Amore Amaro

Original photo by: Elena Peabody.

Broad-leaf time is a flowering plant with aromatic leaves. Many cultivars have a lemony flavor profile.

Uses

In addition to its common uses in cooking, the aerial parts of the thyme plant can be harvested to make a digestive remedy.¹ Thyme is a known ingredient in the Luxardo Bitter aperativo of Padua, Italy, and in the Margerum Amaro of Santa Barbara, California.²

Historical context

Thyme written about by Dioscorides, Pliny, Palladius and Rufinus. It was also written about in the Lexicon Plantarum.³ It was one of many species of plants that was indigenous to Western Europe or had been naturalized by medieval times, and served a number of uses.⁴ Along with other aromatics such as savory, mint and others it was often infused into a tea to ease digestion.⁵

At the time of the Antidotarium Nicolai, thyme was “(m)ainly used as a remedy for colds...later as registered in The English Physician, thyme was useful to strengthen the lungs.”⁶

In the Physica, Hildegarde writes that “(i)f one adds thyme to good herbs and condiments, it carries the foulness of the person’s suffering with its warmth and strength.”⁷ She goes on to praise the plant for lessening the foulness of leprosy. She notes that the plant’s curative properties are so strong that only God can thwart them:

Take thyme and some of the earth around its root and boil in a fire. Let the person prepare a sauna bath. Let them also cook the thyme with the earth sticking to it in a caldron with water. Use this often in the sauna…[and it will]… lessen bad humors, unless God does not wish it.⁸

Cultivation

Thyme is an herbaceous perennial that likes full sun and dry to medium, well-drained soil. The plants should be cut back to encourage new growth and inhibit the development of woody parts.⁹

Pests

Thyme has no serious pests, but can be susceptible to root rot.¹⁰

References

1. A – Z of Medicinal Herbs. (p. 104). CITATION NEEDED.
2. Parsons, Brad Thomas. Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas (Kindle edition). New York: Ten Speed Press, 2016 (loc. 562, 1568).
3. Opsomer-Halleux, Carméla. “The Medieval Garden and Its Role in Medicine,” in Medieval Gardens (Dumbarton Oaks Colloquia on the History of Landscape Architecture, v9). Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1986 (p. 113).
4. Stannard, Jerry. “Alimentary and Medicinal uses of Plants,” in Medieval Gardens (Dumbarton Oaks Colloquia on the History of Landscape Architecture, v9). Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1986 (p. 73).
5. McLean, Teresa. Medieval English Gardens. New York: Viking Press, 1980 (p. 185).
6. González Blanco, Marta Isabel. “An edition of the Middle English translation of the Antidotarium Nicolai.” MPhil thesis, University of Glasgow, 2018 (p. 128).
7. von Bingen, Hildegard. Hildegard’s Healing Plants, from Her Medieval Classic Physica. Bruce W. Hozeski, trans. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001 (p. 179).
8. Ibid. (p. 180).
9. Missouri Botanical Garden, “Thymus vulgaris.” Accessed September 4, 2019.
10. Ibid.