Thyme
🌿 Common Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
A hardy, aromatic Mediterranean herb with pungent earthy flavour, evergreen foliage, and clouds of pink‑white summer flowers 🌿💗
🌿 Common thyme is a compact, woody, evergreen subshrub native to the Mediterranean, valued for its intensely aromatic leaves and versatility in the kitchen. It forms a low, bushy mound of small grey‑green leaves and produces clusters of pink‑white flowers in early summer, highly attractive to bees and other pollinators. Typically growing 15–30 cm tall and up to 40 cm wide, it’s ideal for sunny borders, rock gardens, herb beds, and containers.
Thyme thrives in full sun, poor soils, and dry conditions, making it a classic choice for Mediterranean‑style planting and low‑maintenance gardens.
Common thyme is one of the foundational herbs of European cooking, prized for its warm, earthy, resinous flavour that holds up beautifully in long cooking.
Leaves
• Harvestable year‑round, with peak flavour just before flowering.
• Used fresh or dried to season roast meats, poultry, vegetables, soups, stews, and Mediterranean dishes.
• Excellent with mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, and slow‑cooked meals.
• Retains flavour well when dried — ideal for winter use.
Sprigs
• Whole sprigs are added to stocks, sauces, casseroles, and braises, releasing flavour slowly and removed before serving.
• A classic component of bouquet garni, herb rubs, and infused oils.
Flavour profile
Earthy, warm, resinous, savoury, aromatic.
