By Margaret Malsam
I love fresh rosemary and have it growing in a small pot on my windowsill the year round. This versatile herb is one of my favorites because it smells so good, adds flavor to many different foods and has many healthful qualities. It’s been long used to aid digestion and help memory. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia says, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” She was right. This fragrant herb may help you to keep your memory.
Recent research done by Stuart Lipton, M.D., of California’s Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, and his colleagues in Japan indicates rosemary’s active ingredients and antioxidants may protect the brain from the ravages of harmful free radicals that contribute to conditions such as strokes and Alzheimer’s.
In another modern study done in the workplace, researchers found that when the smell of rosemary was pumped into cubicles where people were working, those people showed improved memory.
History of rosemary
Rosemary is fragrant, needle-like herb, which also is a poetic girl’s name. Rosemary comes from the Latin “ros,” “dew” and “marinus”(marine or ocean), which translates into its being moist and fragrant like a sea breeze. Sometime in the Middle Ages, the word “rosemarinus” was changed to rosemary in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to the book, The Secret Life of Food.
Known as “the remembrance herb,, rosemary has been used as a symbol for remembrance during weddings and funerals in Europe and Australia. At funerals, mourners would throw rosemary into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead.
Many customs and much folklore have evolved around rosemary through the ages. For example, rosemary was often used as a love charm. When a young person would tap another with a rosemary sprig and the sprig happened to contain an open flower, it was said that the couple would fall in love.
In the Middle Ages, the bride would wear a rosemary headpiece, and the groom and wedding guests would wear a sprig of rosemary. Newlywed couples would plant a branch of rosemary on their wedding day for good luck. If the branch grew it was a good omen for the couple and their families. Sometimes a rosemary branch, tied with colorful ribbons would be presented to wedding guests as a symbol of love and loyalty.
Rosemary was also stuffed into cloth dolls in order to attract a lover or to summon curative vibrations for illnesses. It was believed that placing a sprig of rosemary under a pillow before sleep would repel nightmares.
Rosemary has not always been a love herb, however. If rosemary was placed outside the home, it was believed that it would repel witches. Somehow, the use of rosemary in the garden to repel witches turned into a belief that the woman ruled the household in homes and gardens where rosemary grew abundantly. By the 16th century, this practice became a bone of contention, and men were known to rip up rosemary bushes to show that they – not their wives – ruled the roost.
Cooking with rosemary
This herb adds extra flavor to chicken, fish, lamb, pork, soups and stews. Its antioxidants can block cancer- causing compounds from forming when cooking meat. It also can perk up an ordinary spring salad, tomatoes or potatoes (see recipes). I love to sauté fresh rosemary sprigs when I season my pan-grilled chicken breasts. Then I add a little water and simmer covered for a few minutes. Unlike more delicate herbs which should only be added during the last few minutes of cooking, fresh rosemary is a hearty herb that can stand more heat without losing its wonderful flavor. A general guideline to use fresh instead of the dried rosemary called for in a recipe is to use about three times as much.
