SC - Origanum

[Terri Spencer]

Stefan li Rous wrote:

What is "Origanum"? 

And several learned cooks responded "oregano".

I just ran into this very question for my recreation of Dr. Stevens'
Aqua Composita (which was next to Christianna's delicious display of
period french toast at Midwinter A&S, and earned a masterwork), and I
came up with...marjoram.  

I had thought this because William Turner's 1584 Herbal _The Nature of
herbes in Greke, Latin, Englishe, Duche & Frenche wyth the commune
names that Herbaries and Apotecaries vse_ (What a title!) says:  

"Origanum is called in englishe organ, howe be it I neuer sawe the
trewe organ in England. I haue sene diuerse times organe whiche grewe
in Candy, muche hotter then thys our commune organ is, whiche is called
origanum syluestre in latin, and in some places in England wylde
mergerum. It is hote and dry in the thyrde degree."

And Culpeper's 1649 _The Complete Herbal_ lists wild, wind, or grove
marjoram, "called also Origanum" as a plant that "grows plentifully in
the borders of corn fields, and in some copses." 

I interpreted these to mean the English Origanum was not the same as
that grown in Candy (Crete) - with the Mediterranean version more
likely to be oregano, and the English closer to marjoram.  Now I am
rethinking this position.  Markham's version of Dr. Stevens' water uses
both origanum and wild marjoram, which the editor dismissed as Markham
mixing multiple sources. But the marjoram is listed with garden herbs,
and origanum with more exotic spices used in smaller quantities, which
could mean it was an imported ingredient. 

Could you share the source of your certainty that English Organum is 
oregano?  

And before Ras asks, here's the recipe:

>From Gervase Markham's 1615 _The English Housewife_:

To make Doctor Stevens' water
To make that sovereign water which was first invented by Doctor
Stevens, in the same form as he delivered the receipt to the Archbishop
of Canterbury, a little before the death of the said doctor: take a
gallon of good Gascon wine, then take ginger, galingale, cinnamon,
nutmegs, grains, cloves bruised, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, origanum,
of every of them a like quantity, that is to say a dram; then take
sage, wild marjoram, pennyroyal, mints, red roses, thyme, pellitory,
rosemary, wild thyme, camomile, lavender, of each of them a handful,
then bray the spices small, and bruise the herbs and put all into the
wine, and let it stand so twelve hours, only stir it divers times; then
distil it by a limbeck, and keep the first water by itself, for that is
the best, then keep the second water for that is good, and for the last
neglect it not, for it is very wholesome though the worst of the three.
 Now for the virtue of this water it is this, it comforteth the spirits
and vital parts, and helpeth all inward diseases that cometh of cold,
it is good against the shaking of the palsy, and cureth the contraction
of sinews, and helpeth the conception of women that be barren; it
killeth the worms in the body, it cureth the cold cough, it helpeth the
toothache, it comforteth the stomach and cureth the old dropsy, it
helpeth the stone in the bladder and in the reins, it helpeth a
stinking breath; and whosoever uses this water moderately and not too
often, preserveth him in good liking, and will make him seem young in
old age.  

Who could resist such a miracle potion?

Tara




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