Italian Herbs and Spices: Garlic, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage and the Rest

Italian kitchens are more likely to reach for fresh herbs than dried blends.¹ The herbs covered here are basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, bay leaf and marjoram, along with garlic, dried chile and fennel pollen. This page covers what the sources say about each, with links to our full profiles.

At a glance

A note on “Italian seasoning”

The jar labeled Italian seasoning is an American product. A Tasting Table piece says you would be hard-pressed to find a bottle labeled “Italian seasoning” in Italy, and that Italian kitchens are far more likely to use fresh herbs than dried.¹ The USDA’s purchasing specification for the blend lists thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and basil.¹⁶ See Italian seasoning, Italian seasoning substitutes and herbes de Provence vs. Italian seasoning.

Garlic

Garlic is native to Central Asia to northeastern Iran,² but Britannica notes that it now grows wild in Italy and southern France, and describes a powerful onionlike aroma and pungent taste.³ Its use is ancient: ancient medical texts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and India mention it.¹⁷ Whether it is the single most important Italian seasoning is a judgment, not something a source measures.

Garlic burns easily. America’s Test Kitchen warns that it turns acrid and bitter if it goes into hot oil too soon.¹⁸ On health, NCCIH’s summary is cautious; for example, eating garlic does not seem to reduce the risk of stomach cancer.¹⁹ See garlic, fresh garlic substitutes and too much garlic.

Basil

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a mint-family herb⁵ whose native range Kew gives as tropical and subtropical Asia to northern Australia.⁴ PROSEA says that in Italian cooking the leaves go into pizzas, pasta, chicken and cheese dishes, and the famous pesto.⁶ Britannica describes dried basil’s flavor as warm, sweet, aromatic and mildly pungent.⁵ It is a delicate herb: the LSU AgCenter advises adding it a minute or two before the end of cooking.²⁰

Pesto takes its name from the Italian verb pestare, to crush, and its best-known form, from Genoa, combines basil, pine nuts, garlic, grated Parmesan and olive oil.²¹ Italy’s tourism site dates the first official recipe to 1865.²² Basilico Genovese, the protected basil for pesto, can be grown only on the Tyrrhenian side of Liguria under its PDO specification.²³ The German risk assessor BfR notes that basil pesto may contain high amounts of methyleugenol and estragole, compounds that are carcinogenic in animal studies, but it has not issued a consumer recommendation.²⁴

See basil, Genovese basil, dried vs. fresh basil and too much basil.

Oregano

Britannica calls oregano essential in Italian pizza and pasta sauces, and describes a strong aroma and warm, pungent taste.⁷ The sharp flavor comes from carvacrol and thymol, which make up roughly 78 to 85% of the essential oil.²⁵ It became widely known in the United States after World War II, when soldiers returning from Italy made it popular.⁷

Dried oregano is the form most Americans know. The University of Delaware’s extension service notes that dried herbs are stronger than fresh,²⁶ so the common claim that fresh oregano is too pungent to cook with does not hold as a rule. Buy from a trusted source: an EU-wide check found 48% of oregano samples suspicious of adulteration, mostly with olive leaves.²⁷ See oregano, fresh vs. dried oregano, oregano vs. marjoram and good spices for pizza.

Rosemary

Rosemary, now classified as Salvia rosmarinus, is native to the Mediterranean.⁸ Britannica describes a pungent, slightly bitter taste and lists meats, vegetables and soups among its uses.⁹ America’s Test Kitchen classes rosemary as a hearty herb to add early in cooking, because its flavor compounds are somewhat more heat-stable than those of delicate herbs.²⁸ See rosemary, cooking with rosemary and rosemary vs. sage.

Sage

Kew gives the native range of common sage as southwestern Germany to southern Europe.¹⁰ PROSEA lists its main spice uses as sausages, stuffings and soups, and credits its strong smell to thujones.²⁹ In Rome, sage is one of the three main ingredients of saltimbocca alla romana, with veal and prosciutto; Saveur calls the dish a mainstay of Roman trattorias.¹¹ Sage is also widely paired with gnocchi and risotto, though no source opened for this page documents those uses. Thujone is why NCCIH says sage may be unsafe in pregnancy, though food amounts are likely safe.³⁰ See sage, fresh vs. dried sage and too much sage.

Bay leaves

Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) is native to the Mediterranean.¹² The leaves go in early and come out before serving. J. Kenji López-Alt’s reason is texture: dried bay leaves are tough.³¹ There is a safety reason too: whole leaves are rigid and can have sharp points and margins, and a published case report describes a bay leaf perforating the bowel.³² See bay leaves, cooking with bay leaves and too much bay leaf.

Marjoram

Marjoram (Origanum majorana) is in the same genus as oregano,¹³ and Britannica describes its flavor as warm, aromatic, slightly sharp and bitterish.³³ Its particular uses in Italian cooking were not documented by any source opened for this page. See marjoram and marjoram vs. oregano.

Chile and fennel pollen

Dried chile flakes are a finishing sprinkle for pizza and pasta.¹⁴ Fennel pollen, a more specialized ingredient, has long been hand-harvested from wild fennel by cooks in northern Italy,¹⁵ and the food writer Faith Willinger introduced it to an American audience, bringing American chefs to a Tuscan butcher shop in the 1990s.³⁴ See red pepper flakes and fennel pollen.

Related pages

• Mediterranean spices
• Dried herbs vs. fresh
• Flat-leaf vs. Italian parsley
• The master list of herbs and spices