Summer savory

Origin & history

Summer savory comes from the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea region and crossed the Alps with the Romans; Charlemagne’s Capitulare de villis explicitly prescribed it for the gardens of his estates. Its German name follows the kitchen rather than botany — Dutch does exactly the same (bonenkruid). Regionally it is also known as Pfefferkraut, because the fresh herb tastes sharp and peppery.

Varieties

Two different plants are sold under this name: annual summer savory (Satureja hortensis), with soft leaves and a mild, fresh taste — that is the one sown in May — and perennial winter or mountain savory (Satureja montana), a hardy little subshrub with tougher, needle-like leaves and a markedly sharper flavour. There are no F1 hybrids here; all the seed is open-pollinated and easy to save yourself. Buy fresh packets anyway: germination drops off noticeably after two or three years.

Care

Only sow once the soil is genuinely warm — in cold ground the seed comes up slowly and patchily. As a light germinator it is merely pressed down, not covered, and kept evenly moist until it emerges; thin to about 15 cm afterwards. The plant needs little: poor, free-draining soil and sparing watering give more flavour than any feeding, while fresh manure or plenty of nitrogen only produce soft, bland growth.

What can go wrong

Slugs on the tender seedlings are the commonest annoyance — a whole sown row can vanish overnight. So keep the surrounding surface open and dry, hold off mulching until later, and collect them by hand in the evening. On heavy, wet ground the plant rots off at the base; a raised, sandy bed or a pot reliably solves that. Too dense a stand leaves the shoots thin and yellows the lower leaves — 15 cm really is the minimum spacing.

Harvest, storage & kitchen

The flavour is strongest just before and at the start of flowering; cut whole shoots a hand’s width above the ground then, so the plant shoots again. It loses almost no aroma when dried — hang it in bunches somewhere airy and shaded and strip the leaves only once it is dry. In the kitchen whole sprigs go into the pot with beans, peas and lentils and are lifted out before serving; chopped fresh it also suits cucumber salad and pickles.

Frequently asked questions

When can I first cut summer savory?

About eight weeks after sowing, so from early July, once the plant stands around 20 centimetres tall. Two or three cuts are realistic up to the end of September. Take only the top two thirds the first time and the plant grows away again quickly.

Can summer savory still be used after flowering?

Yes, the leaves stay aromatic, though the stems turn woody and the flavour flattens out. The small pinkish-white flowers are edible and look good over a dish of beans. You can carry on picking the plant until the first frost.

Is summer savory winter hardy?

No, summer savory is an annual and the autumn frost ends it; you sow again each year from 1 May. Only winter savory is hardy, a separate species that stays put in the bed as a small subshrub.

Does summer savory grow in a window box?

Yes, an ordinary window box is quite enough. Stand it in the sun, use lean compost, water sparingly and thin the seedlings to 15 centimetres; three or four plants per box cover what a kitchen needs. Sow straight into the box rather than raising plants first.