It Tastes Like What?

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I had only tasted parsley fresh. as a garnish on the plate at restaurants. It was too strong as a breath freshener for me. I later tried dried parsley in cooking, and it was meh. My eldest daughter introduced me to cooking with fresh parsley, flat leaf variety. I found it delightful.

I have also found that dried cilantro to have very little flavor, while fresh, it can make the dish.

Surprisingly, I prefer dried oregano, basil, rosemary, thyne, summer savory, and sage. I lose the slight minty flavor often found in these fresh members of the mint family. Also, as I grew up cooking with the dried herbs, they are more predictable, and easier to control for me.

P.A.G. much prefers the fresh from the plant herbs.

As for other flavors, I love fresh horseradish, and wasabi. for mustard, it depends on how it's being used. For deviled eggs, I want it in powder form. Spicy brow coarse mustard is my favorite on any sausage, yellow mustard goes into my egg and tuna salads.

Dill is another that I prefer dried, as is marjoram.

There are so many ways to use herbs, spices, and even the foods themselves to use as flavorings, to make sauces, to flavor broths and stocks, it is really a matter of personal taste. Eamples; anchovies can be used out of a can. or as a paste to add umami to a salad, or sace. Shrimp can be dried and used in the same fashion.

Quite often, proteins are used in Asian cuisines as a flavoring, rather than as a main course.

Ok, I'll stop now. Most everyone here already knows these things. THis thread just caught my interest. Have a great night.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwin of the North
 
I had only tasted parsley fresh. as a garnish on the plate at restaurants. It was too strong as a breath freshener for me. I later tried dried parsley in cooking, and it was meh. My eldest daughter introduced me to cooking with fresh parsley, flat leaf variety. I found it delightful.

I have also found that dried cilantro to have very little flavor, while fresh, it can make the dish.

Surprisingly, I prefer dried oregano, basil, rosemary, thyne, summer savory, and sage. I lose the slight minty flavor often found in these fresh members of the mint family. Also, as I grew up cooking with the dried herbs, they are more predictable, and easier to control for me.
For Christmas, DH gave me a book called "Nose Dive," about how much our sense of smell is involved in what we taste. Different volatile molecules that help us to taste foods dissipate at different rates. Soft herbs like cilantro, dill and parsley lose them quickly when they're dried. However, the volatile molecules in woody herbs like bay, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme, which originated on hot dry hillsides in the Mediterranean, last a lot longer and even intensify as the leaves lose moisture.
 
I used three herbs in a pasta salad a week ago and made a mistake. One of the three gave the salad a weird taste.
I used fresh chopped rosemary, Italian Oregano and Greek oregano. I am not exactly sure which herb was the offender. I even tasted each leaf outside and I think it was the Italian oregano?
Anywho, I did not use any fresh herbs yesterday when I made another pasta salad. It was much better.
I would like to know which one it was. My taste buds worked good when I noticed it, but let me down when I did a tasting outside in the garden.
 
I used three herbs in a pasta salad a week ago and made a mistake. One of the three gave the salad a weird taste.
I used fresh chopped rosemary, Italian Oregano and Greek oregano. I am not exactly sure which herb was the offender. I even tasted each leaf outside and I think it was the Italian oregano?
Anywho, I did not use any fresh herbs yesterday when I made another pasta salad. It was much better.
I would like to know which one it was. My taste buds worked good when I noticed it, but let me down when I did a tasting outside in the garden.

When you eat the leaves by themselves, maybe your tongue gets overwhelmed. I imagine you used oil or mayo in your pasta salad for the dressing, or maybe a dairy product. I would take a bit of that and mix a bit of each of those fresh, minced herbs into its own dollop of that dressing base and see if that lets you taste the "weird taste". If you used vinegar, maybe try it with vinegar and the herbs.
 
I would suggest simplifying it by using one or the other oregano, but not both. They are similar but different, so they could be clashing flavors for you.
 
Thanks. Seems I have two plants that are supposed to be Italian oregano.
But thinking back one might be something else. They look identical.
I cannot remember what herb it is I planted? Its on the tip of my finger!....lol
Thanks for the suggestions ladies.
 
Maybe Marjoram, Roll_Bones? I Have fresh marjoram, and I actually like that more than the fresh oregano, when I grew that, having a slightly different flavor. It also isn't quite as invasive. I also have some Syrian oregano - a.k.a. thyme scented oregano, which is a much easier way to get thyme flavor in a dish, than stripping those tiny thyme leaves.
Sweet marjoram, just beginning to flower, 6-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I rarely use oregano or marjoram with fresh rosemary; in fact, I can't remember a recipe calling for those together, though I'm sure there are some.. Thyme and rosemary, or a favorite of mine, fresh sage and rosemary, I often use.
 
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