Hyssopus officinalis

hyssop

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Hyssopus officinalis L. (Lamiaceae); hisop (Afrikaans); hysope (French); Ysop (German); issopo (Italian); hisopo (Spanish)

DESCRIPTION Hyssop herb comprises the fresh or dried stems and leaves, with or without flowers. Hyssop is also used as an extract or as essential oil distilled from above-ground parts.

THE PLANT An erect perennial shrublet up to 0.6 m (ca. 2 ft) high, somewhat woody at the base, with thin, square stems, small, oblong, opposite leaves and small, bright blue (rarely pale blue, violet, purple or white) flowers.

ORIGIN Hyssop is indigenous to southern Europe.1 The historical records of hyssop (derived from ezov or esob in Hebrew), including several biblical references, actually refer to the Middle Eastern Origanum syriacum, a relative of marjoram and oregano.1 Hyssop is well known as a culinary herb and ornamental garden plant, commonly seen in herb gardens. Commercial production occurs mainly in France, Hungary and the Netherlands.

CULTIVATION Hyssop is easily propagated from seeds or from cuttings. It tolerates drought and poor soil but grows best in full sun and well-drained, slightly acid soil. Plants should be strongly pruned to encourage new growth and are best replaced after three to five years.

HARVESTING Leafy stems are hand-harvested twice a year. The herb is used fresh or dried (or as concentrated extract or steam-distilled hyssop oil).

CULINARY USES Hyssop has been described as a unique and versatile culinary herb when used in small amounts. The taste is intensely minty, spicy and floral, with a pleasant bitterness. Fresh young leaves and flowers are used in salads, soups, sauces and meat dishes.2 Infusions of the dried herb can replace sage in seasoning stocks, soups, rich sauces (e.g. for pasta and gnocchi), oily fish dishes, meat dishes, vegetables, stuffings, processed pork and other charcuterie products.2 It can be baked into pita bread and used in cakes, custards, puddings, jams, candies and ice cream. Hyssop is well known as an ingredient of herbal liqueurs such as absinthe, Benedictine and chartreuse.2 Classical absinthe recipes called for 500 to 1 000 g (1.1 to 2.2 lbs) of the herb (or 6 g / 0.2 oz of essence) per 100 litres / 219 gallon.3

FLAVOUR COMPOUNDS The essential oil usually contains pinocamphone, isopinocamphone and pinocarvone as main compounds4 but some chemical variants may have large amounts of β-pinene, camphor, 1,8-cineole, linalool or limonene. Pinocamphone is similar to thujone in its neurotoxic activity but the levels of both these compounds in historic and modern absinthe were found to be within safe limits.3

NOTES Hyssop should not be confused with anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), a North American culinary herb that is used in much the same way as hyssop. It has a sweet, aniseed flavour. Other similar-looking herbs that are sometimes used for food flavouring include catnip (Nepeta cataria and related species) and calamint (Calamintha nepeta). All these species belong to the Lamiaceae family and have become popular as ornamental plants.

1. Fleisher, A., Fleisher, Z. 1988. The identification of biblical hyssop and origin of the traditional use of oregano-group herbs in the Mediterranean region. Economic Botany 42: 232–241.

2. Larousse. 1999. The concise Larousse gastronomique. Hamlyn, London.

3. Lachenmeier, D.M., Nathan-Maister, D., Breaux,T.A., Sohnius, E.-M., Schoeberl, K., Kuballa, T. 2008. Chemical composition of vintage preban absinthe with special reference to thujone, fenchone, pinocamphone, methanol, copper, and antimony concentrations. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56: 3073–781.

4. Kerrola, K., Galambosi, B., Kallio, H. 1994. Volatile components of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 42: 776–781.