rosemary is yet another illustrious member of the
lamiaceae family which includes mint basil marjoram and thyme however it's
most closely related to oregano
(Plants mumbling angrily.)
Whoa!hey hey hey! You herbs get along right now or I will harvest you both
that's better
the named rosemary comes from the latin
root Ros meaning Dew and Marinus meaning sea
and this makes a lot of
sense because it's often called the dew of the sea or sea dew because of the
shimmering blue flowers that cover the rosemary bush during winter it actually
has several other nicknames but my favorite of which is rudy patootie cutie and moody
rosemary originates from all over the
Mediterranean Sea region in fact it is one of the most common plants of the
Mediterranean Sea area because it loves to grow in the chalky soil or rocky
limestone that is characteristic of the Mediterranean coastline
rosemary husband with us since the dawn of civilization
around 5000 BC references the rosemary were found written in cuneiform on stone tablets
rosemary is known as the herb of remembrance
which is funny because
scholars sure didn't remember to write anything down about it after scroll on a
bunch of stone tablets
sure we know that the pharaohs were buried with rosemary
in Egypt but really we have little to no evidence about it until about 500 BC
when the ancient Greeks and Romans fell in love with it the ancient Greek
scholars would use rosemary to aid their studies and students would bind reads of
it to their heads day their memories I'm sorry kids but I know a little bit of
rosemary till your skull ain't gonna help unless you've done your homework
now get back to those books kiddos
Pliny the Elder mentions rosemary in the Natural History
as does Pendanius Dioscorides in his famous de Materia Medica
which was the primary go-to herbal text for almost 1,400 years
wow talk about cornering the market
rosemary was introduced to China in 220 A.D.
then for a long while I kind of just you know hung around and did its thing you know
being cool wearing dark shades hanging out parties weddings and funerals at
ancient Greek and Roman weddings rosemary was used in the head wreaths worn by Brides
and that carried on until that fashion became like oh so 100 A.D.
at which time bouquets became more of the fashion and rosemary was integrated into those
during the 8th century it was the Romans who brought rosemary to England
now this is most likely thanks to Charlemagne who in addition to
running the Roman Empire was an avid herb growing nut and mandated that
rosemary be grown in gardens alongside other awesome herbs
however it's unclear as to whether rosemary stayed in England over
the next couple centuries and was cultivated and grown
that is until 1338 when rosemary gets officially naturalized in Britain when
cuttings were sent by the Countess of Hainault
to her daughter Queen Philippa
the wife of Edward the third
the count test convinced the king and queen that
it was so fabulous they went ahead and planted it at the old Palace at
Westminster after that man rosemary had it easy and you could find it in every
single herbal text in England rosemary gained even more popularity in
14th century Europe thanks to Queen Elizabeth nope not that Queen Lizzie
Queen Elizabeth of Hungary
now she reportedly cured herself of her semi-paralysis
because she drank a concoction of rosemary that helped ease the pain in her joints
this formula became famously known as Hungary water
and was later turned into a popular perfume
that was all the rage until the 18th century when
Ode du Cologne took over
any Shakespeare fans out there are probably familiar
with Rosemary's most famous literary reference in plays like Hamlet
there's rosemary...that's for remembrance.
Shakespeare also mentions it in his play The Winter's Tale
and twice in Romeo and Juliet
as was often the case with many of the other Mediterranean herbs
rosemary made its way over to the Americas thanks to the settlers of the 1600s
in the Teatrum Botanicum John Parkinson, botanist to Charles the First
mentions how rosemary was often used to make lutes and other instruments
which brings me to another odd fact
rosemary was often a musical inspiration
for the troubadours of the Middle Ages
or they just sung about it a lot
(singing) Rosemary!
and apparently a lot of people still do
Plague!
A plague on both your houses! (echo) your houses, your houses
during the Black Plague rosemary was huge because people believe that it
helped stop the plague people would place rosemary branches on the floors of
their homes to help combat the plague but there is also a very popular
concoction called the four thieves vinegar
this concoction was primarily
composed of rosemary sage lavender and rue
because of these factors Rosemary's price skyrocketed
I mean it was worse than drugs
psst...hey man...you want some sage?
maybe some lavender
How bout some primetime grade-a rosemary this stuff's primo man
only six shillings a handful
and this was the actual price of rosemary in 1603
when the plague killed 38,000 people in London
let's give you an idea of just how expensive that is
one priceless that was found from 1625 said that 18 gallons
of good ale with delivery could be had
for only three shillings
that brings me up to Empress Josephine and her hubby Napoleon
both of whom were obsessed with rosemary
In particular rosemary water and perfume
supposedly Josephine would
always wash herself in rosemary water before going to bed
and I guess he must have dug her smell quite a bit
because he had the royal perfume yay Chardin
make up a couple of bottles
in fact they recorded Napoleon as using
162 bottles
of rosemary water in just the first three months of 1806
but does it stop there
no, definitely no, positively no, decidedly no, nuh uh
Napoleon was such a fan of rosemary that as he lay dying to pastilles of rosemary were burning
thanks to high profile rosemary lovers like Napoleon rosemary water became
so popular that it was the first herbal product
my question for today is
do you drink rosemary water or maybe some rosemary tea maybe
please let me know in the comments down below
until next time be kind to each other
and be sure to spruce up your day with a little bit of rosemary