Wild aromatic Cretan herbs (Άγρια αρωματικά βότανα της Κρήτης)

A friend from New York who has been holidaying in Crete this summer told me how much she was enjoying the island's aroma, so much that she would rub her skin with the wild herbs found on almost every roadside to keep their perfume on her body. Natural smells of this type are not to be found in her environment, and she simply wants to savour them for as long as she can, before she returns home, where the smells and aromas have little to do with what is growing in the soil.

The wild natural smells that surround me, which are easily encountered almost everywhere on the island, being especially pronounced away from urban spaces, are often taken for granted by the locals, because they are found in plethora. Wherever I walk, I am not far from a bristly bush of bright purple wild thyme or a wild-growing rosemary plant. Then again, everyone has something highly aromatic growing in their garden or among their potted plants. Smells chase you in Crete.

I recently proof-read a Master's thesis based on a detailed profiling of four Cretan herbs that grow in the wild:

Origanum microphyllum, 

Origanum microphyllum - mantzourana in Greek, used dried, for tea (always in combination with Sideritis syriaca/cretica). "Origanum microphyllum (benth.) Vogel, commonly called “Matziorana”, is a perennial dwarf shrub endemic to Crete (Greece), with numerous stems 20-50cm usually branched... It is used as an aromatic and medicinal plant, usually as medicinal tea by infusing leaves and/or inflorescences in boiling water."

Origanum dictamnus, 

Origanum dictamnus - diktamos (also known as erontas) in Greek, used dried, for tea (always in combination with Sideritis syriaca/cretica). "According to ancient mythology the plant was dedicated to the ancient Cretan goddess Diktynna and thus was named dittany, it is well known since Aristotle’s time for its curing abilities and is broadly used in Crete till now as a panacea for every illness. Nowadays, as in the past, dittany is used as a condiment, herbal tea plant to cure cough and sore throats, relieve stomach-ache and several pains (Kouri et al., 2007). It has also many remedial properties such as anti-hemorrhage, healing wounds and gastric ulcers, facilitating childbirth and abortion, stimulating the nervous system (Economakis et al., 2002), spleen problems, against rheumatism and gynecological disorders, diabetes and obesity. Its cutaneous uses are antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bleeding, and cicatrizing, and since it has been characterized by the U.S.A.CFR (2009) as a safe spice for consumption, it can be applied as a natural food additive, with a flavoring, antioxidant or preservative role (Liolios et al., 2010). It was also largely used in monasteries since the middle age, by the Benedictines and Trappistines monks in the famous liqueurs Benedictine and Trappistine, respectively."

Origanum vulgare,

Origanum vulgare - common oregano, rigani in Greek, the savoury herb, used dried, sometimes fresh, for flavour. "O. vulgare subsp. hirtum is widely used as spice under the name “Greek Oregano” and it is generally accepted that the Greek Oregano has the best quality; it is used in meat products, salads, soups and sauces, but it is also commonly used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases, for instance its essential oil has been recommended against rheumatism, toothache, and was used in the past for the preparation of soaps with antiseptic properties. The infusions of the leaves and flowers are used against cold, cough, and diarrhea. It has also been reported that the inhalation of the essential oils cure chronic pneumonia. These biological properties are reported to be related to the chemical composition of the plant, especially its essential oil (Skoula and Kamenopoulos, 1997)."

and Satureja thymbra.

Satureja thrymba, throumbi in Greek, a kind of savoury herb often call Pink Savoury, which is used in a similar way to Origanum vulgare (oregano - rigani). "S. thymbra has commercial importance as it is used as spice, and its essential oil is used in folk medicine as antiseptic, tonic, gastric sedative and diuretic. It also favors cicatrization of skin sores and wounds (Capone et al., 1989). The aerial parts of the plant have been widely used in traditional medicine, to treat many ailments such as muscle pains, cramps, arthritis, and infectious diseases (Marković et al., 2011). In addition, they are used in pharmaceuticals as anti-bacterials for the treatment of cold and bronchitis and in cosmetics (Gören et al., 2004)."

These herbs are all related, as they belong to the Lamiacease family; in fact, they all sound or look like the savoury herb commonly known as oregano, which they could well be, but they are all used in quite different ways in Crete. They are rich in many substances:

The main constituents for Origanum microphyllum were β-caryophyllene (20.73%), linalool (14.67%), cis-sabinene-hydrate (12.81), juniper-camphor (7.56%), sabinene (4.41 %), γ-terpinene (4.17%), and α-humulene (4.16%). The essential oil of Origanum dictamnus was dominated by carvacrol (22.77%), p-cymene (15.34%), γ-terpinene (11.57%), cis-thujone (9.53%), β-caryophyllene (7.44%), trans-thujone (6.10%), and α-copaene (4.24%). Carvacrol (58.70%), p-cymene (9.23%), γ-terpinene (7.57%), β-caryophyllene (5.67%), β-bisabolene (2.62%) and β-myrcene (2.44%) were the major constituents of Origanum vulgare. The chemical composition of Satureja thymbra was characterized by the presence of γ-terpinene (32.96%), thymol (17.13%), β-caryophyllene (16.04%), p-cymene (14.45%), α-terpinene (2.33%) and carvacrol (2.13%)... Almost all four plant species were rich in rosmarinic acid, apigenin and its derivatives and flavanones. Caffeic acid derivatives were present in O. microphyllum fractions and also in the ethyl acetate fraction of O. dictamnus. Vicenin-2 was found in O. dictamnus fractions, in the butanol fraction of O. vulgare and in S. thymbra. O. vulgare fractions contained luteolin and its derivatives, which have also been found in S. thymbra fractions. Quercetin glucoside, ferulic acid and stachydrine derivative were only present in S. thymbra, whereas yannaneic acid, p-coumaric acid derivative and maleate of homoplantagenine were found only in O. dictamnus... Comparing the results among the plant species, S. thymbra exhibited the highest antiradical activity in all cases. It should be noted that O. dictamnus has shown prooxidant activity in one of the assays. (Asma TAIR, MAICh thesis, 2013)

The further up you walk or drive, the more the aromatic wild plants growing. Some plants acclimatise well to lower ground (my uncle has successfully grown all the above plants in his coastal village garden except for Satureja thymbra, which I chanced upon on a drive through the southern coast); some are much harder to grow away from their habitat, eg Satureja thymbra and Sideritis syriaca/cretica (which my uncle harvested from a mountain side during a recent forage).

Sideritis syriaca/cretica - malotira in Greek, used dried, as a tea, usually in combination with Origanum dictamus - diktamos or erontas - or Origanum microphyllus - mantzourana; the latter two are used in much smaller quantities than malotira, which is the main herb used to make the tea (it can also be used on its own).

Generally speaking, with a little bit of care and attention, it is not hard to grow something useful for your nutrition in Crete.

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Iced tea (Παγωμένο τσάι)

Tea is not as popular as coffee in Greece. Folks here prefer frappe and, lately, the gourmet coffee in large inelegant plastic tub-like cups with a lid that looks like a spaceship with a huge hole in the middle for the straw. So άγαρμπο (and very τράτζικ - coffee tastes so terrible when served in a flimsy cup). Although I like to drink tea in the winter, I've never really been one to make iced tea for the summer.

My friend's kitchen cupboards contain more tea varieties than I've ever seen anywhere else, along with all the equipment and accessories needed to make and drink tea.

Green tea, lemon slices and mint leaves

I drank a lot of hot herbal tea at my Dutch friend's home. Holland was quite cold throughout my stay, which makes it easier to appreciate a hot liquid in the evening after coming back home from a sightseeing trip. When we came back to Crete, the weather was hot (too hot for the season really). I remembered the aromatic teas my friend served us, but I couldn't fathom the idea of drinking hot tea in such hot weather. So I iced it instead.

Lemon-scented herbal teas work best for iced tea. They remind me of lemonade without the sugar. Verbena (Lipia citriodora) is commonly grown as a potted plant all over Greece for its highly aromatic scent. When dried, it can be used as a tea. In Greek, it's known as louizα (λουίζα). A friend of mine who grows it in her garden gave me a few sprigs to dry. Till the branches are ready, I'm using some dried verbena that my Dutch friend presented to me as a gift.



Iced tea in a clear bottle looks like wine; my children think I'm drinking retsina. Little wonder - I keep my iced tea in an old Mostra wine bottle.

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Tea-time (Διάλειμμα)

Morning and afternoon work breaks were once a more social occasion. Everyone faithfully went to the staff room where they saw and greeted people from other departments, spoke in civilised tones about (possibly) the weather and other non-controversial topics, and were served hot tea or coffee by the tea lady, who was always revered for her contribution to office cheer. Tea was generally the hot liquid of choice during a work break in 20th century New Zealand, up until the 1980s, when people began to show a preference for coffee, which was usually the instant kind.

Immigrant Greeks in Courtenay Place, Wellington, outside the Paramount Cafeteria
(Photo sourced from Aki Antipas)

All office and factory kitchens, hotels and motels, were also equipped with a zip water heater above the sink unit (you can see a small photo of the old style that I was familiar with when I was living there), which was switched on by pulling a long white cord. It then began heating up the water to boiling, making a slightly terrifying whistling sound with a very high pitch, until it finally switched itself off and the sound died down. At any time of the working day, a hot cup of tea or coffee (which extended to a cup of hot instant soup or a bowl of freshly prepared noodles; some of my fellow university students swore by a simple cup of hot water - I kid you not) was never far away, giving a comfortable cosy homely feeling to the Kiwi work environment.

Greek immigrant men working at the (now defunct) Prestige factory, manufacturers of nylon yarn, Pirie St, Wellington, New Zealand, late 1960s. Times are very different now - you can't smoke indoors during your break, milk comes in cartons and tea is generally brewed in your own mug via a tea bag, not in a teapot with loose tea leaves. Incidentally, these men had probably never tried black tea before in their homeland; New Zealand was the first time they drank black tea with milk and sugar.
And here's a photo of their work environment (that's my dad), where they returned after smoko was over: the nylon factory was steamy and noisy 24 hours a day.

It was around about the mid-1980s when the tea lady started disappearing, as did the communal staff dining room. If there was no communal kitchen in the office, people started buying their 'cuppa' at all times of the day, either from a vending machine or from a takeaway bar, until the arrival of the trendy cafe bar, which eventually became brand-labelled ot the likes of Starbucks (or Coffeeright, which are commonly found all over Greece).

The traditional style kafeneion is slowly disappearing in Hania. This group of old men is sitting in the modern surroundings of a Grigoris snack bar chain store.

Cheap coffee makers also come in handy, which generally allows for a greater variety of hot treats in the work environment.

The office coffee maker at my workplace is also where you'll find some bread, crackers and other treats cooked up by the chef, as well as being the unspoken gossip centre.

And these days, office workers are more likely to stay at their desk, their eyes on their computer screen, with their tea or coffee next to the keyboard, unless they are smokers, which means a mandatory walk outdoors to enjoy their cigarette in the fresh air.

A modern tea house in Hania - the menu card in the background listed a wide range of exotic teas, which are served in this way.

And when it's smoko-time, everything stops for tea, doesn't it?

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Breakfast at Makrinitsa (Πρωϊνό στη Μακρινίτσα)

We spent less than 24 hours in the Pelion region, a place that deserves at least a week of exploration and mainly on foot, but each moment there was special. After sleeping in the most peaceful surroundings we have ever encountered (our neighbourhood is very noisy in the summer), we left the hotel and decided to have breakfast at Makrinitsa, a non-vehicle village to which access is gained by a narrow footpath from the neighbouring village of Portaria. The village is centred around a large square with panoramic views of the coastal town of Volos.

View Larger Map

All cars are left at a large carpark just before the footpath. Due to the volume of tourists and visitors, this narrow road is lined with roadside sellers of fresh produce and souvenir shops. The one that impressed me most was the stall with the dried herbs and teas. Mountain tea similar to the Cretan malotira was being sold, as well as all sorts of dried herbs and grasses that apparently cure you of kidney stones, cholesterol, headaches, influenza, tonsilitis, colitis, constipation, arthritis, haemarrhoids, diarrhea, stomachache, insomnia, nervousness, stomach ulcers, asthma, pharryngitis, rheumatism, bronchitis or laryngitis, as well as alleviating memory loss, insomnia, period pains, ageing, controlling blood pressure, aiding blood cleansing and regulating breathing - and they even do mail deliveries all over the country!

A claim was made about each of these teas as a cure for a host of different ailments. I ended up buying some Betonica (a heart tonic, soothes coughs), Tsai tou Vounou (mountain tea - a nerve soother) and green tea (cures insomnia)...

We sat at the Pantheon (= all the gods) cafe at the very edge of the square overlooking the city of Volos below. My children bought me a menu card - we never need to wait for the waiter to do that these days! There was only one breakfast listing, at 6 euro a head, served with your choice of coffee (we ordered cappuccinos and hot chocolates).

Breakfast with a view

We were not disappointed. The bread was freshly baked and toasted, the butter was creamy yellow, and there were eight pots of honey to share among us! We only used half of them, so we packed the others away in our pockets to recreate this precious meal in our own home on our return.

Presenting breakfast in our house in this way has helped to wean the children off boxed cereals. Keeping the novelty as long as possible is not as simple as it sounds. This kind of breakfast preparation takes time. School starts at 8:10am in Greece, so you have to get up quite early to prepare the cutlery and crockery, cook the toast, warm the milk and soften the butter (margarine just doesn't look or taste as good!) if you want to be out the door promptly to drop the children off to school on time. I have the honey pots filled, the bread sliced (remember we don't use 'square' pre-sliced bread in Greece unless it's for ham and cheese toasted sandwiches) and the table laid after the last meal of the previous evening to save time - and it's still working: my kids go to school with a tummy full of good solid breakfast food!

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Courgettes a la Bulgaria (Κολοκυθάκια α λα Βουλγαρία)

Aristotle wasn't feeling well one night, complaining of tummy ache. I usually ask my children to go to the toilet in such cases. This time, though, the tummy ache didn't go away, and it was still there the next morning, so I decided not to send him to school. We would visit the doctor and to kill two birds with one stone, Christine, who's starting primary school in September, could get the necessary verifications as to her state of health by a registered paediatrician, ophthalmologist and dentist, as Greek law states. Being the good Greek wife that I am, I had enough time to boil up the horta I had washed the previous day. All that was needed to complete the meal were some grilled meat patties to go with the greens; this could be done after returning home from the doctor's.

On the way to the doctor's, Aristotle said he felt fine and his stomach didn't hurt any longer. As we had set out to get other jobs done, I decided that we would treat the day as an outing. In any case, we had not seen Dr M, our lovely friend, in a while. She has never viewed us as paying customers, nor does she rush us out of her office, even though her waiting room is always packed. When I pay her, she insists that if I can't afford it, she'll take less from me. The care she offers and the advice she proffers is worth more than what I pay her. I say this, because this is the reason that I don't often go to her surgery. She's more than willing to help me out over the phone. After examining my children, she decided that they were healthy and Aristotle's tummy ache would probably not return, but as a precautionary measure, I could get free blood and urine tests done. Because Aristotle was born with a blood disorder which eventually cleared up on its own (after a year of having bi-monthly blood transfusions - no laughing matter), I decided to take her up on this. As she also had some business to attend to at the health centre where these tests are done (for non-Greek readers, this is the infamous IKA, which might be called the NHS in Britain, with similar connotations), she asked us to pick her up from her surgery after our little stroll in the laiki - the paediatrician's surgery is located on the same street that Wednesday's open-air market takes place - so we could drive out there altogether.

The laiki is filled with wonderful sights: the brightest coloured vegetables, the most delectable smells and aromas, as well as the cheapest T-shirts and kinkiest string underwear. With summer coming on, I decided to buy the children some summer shorts. A stall run by a friendly-looking Pontiac (I mean a Russian migrant with Greek origins from the Pontus region) was selling children's summer clothes. I picked up a pair of shorts for Aristotle. "This one, please," I said to the stall owner.

"No, mum, I want this one," said Aristotle. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my children have developed their own taste in clothes! Even the stall owner found them difficult to satisfy, as he had shown them almost all the available prints and styles before they finally came out with their own choice of a T-shirt and capri pants.

It was time to pick up the doctor. As we walked out to the car, Dr M pointed out the linden tree (we call it by its Latin name, 'tilio') whose spring blossoms were highly aromatic. She even managed to procure a bag of dried tilio for me from one of the locals - everyone knows and loves Dr M, which is completely understandable - ready to be made into a relaxing evening tea. The only problem is the location of the tree: it's on a main road with heavy traffic, which does defeat the purpose of imbibing a natural product. I'd like to believe that the leaves and blossoms were collected from the part of the tree facing the houses rather than the road, and that the car emissions rise to the higher parts of the tree, but this is also wishful thinking, isn't it?



The Greek national health system works very well when you have insider information. You can get this by having a friend or relative 'inside' the system, or by the goodwill of an 'insider', which I had today. The doctor spoke to a specialist in child surgery, who got the blood and urine tests sorted out, as well as the dentist and opthalmologist, who were both quite non-plussed by the paediatrician's request that we be seen to without an appointment, which is a holy prerequisite in places like IKA. All this took a long time, which of course meant that we came home late, and there was no time to defrost and cook biftekia. It was probably one of those days when I would have preferred to call it a day and take a rest. A sandwich (something like the ones Val made recently) and a glass of water would have sufficed. No such luck for the Cretan wife - her man expects a cooked lunch, even if it's a light one. And I, the tired Greek wife, dream of finding a ready cooked meal on the table waiting for us.



We both found what we were looking for from Georgia, the wonderful smiling Georgia, who waters our garden, digs up weeds, washed my carpets, sewed me a pair of shorts - she's a seamstress by profession - as well as a looking after my mother-in-law. On that day, she had cooked a dish that she often made in Bulgaria, which she says is quite popular in her country, as is the use of yoghurt in cooking, more so than in Greece where it is more often eaten as a side dish. As much as I insisted that I could not eat the food she had prepared for herself to eat, she insisted even more that I take it; being very hungry, I did. And here it is: fried zucchini slices dipped in a batter made with flour, eggs, water and salt, allowed to strain a little, and layered with tzatziki dip, which had been given a slight overdose of garlic. If I had to give it a name, I'd say it was another regional version of the famous borek.

It was delicious, I would definitely have it again, and I would serve it with biftekia, or another kind of simple grilled meat, something like lambchops. It's especially nice on a hot day, as the yoghurt is refereshing, and it is of ocurse served cold or at room temperature.

This post is dedicated to Georgia.

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The rape of the countryside

UPDATE: As of July 24, 2013, the foraging of malotira and diktamos for commercial purposes is prohibited, within a five-year ban, until 31/8/2018. No surprise really, when you read the following post, written more than five years ago. 

Stamatis is a good solid Cretan bloke, a family man who takes great pride in the working of the land. Every weekend he goes up to his mountain village with his family, and works the land, where he grows vegetables for his daily needs and olives for oil (which he also sells). He keeps a few sheep and chickens, which are looked after by neighbours when he's at work in town. He loves to wander around the hillsides and pick wild greens; he brings home the horta, and his wife cleans and prepares them. He also likes to collect snails. He finds so many, that he calls his friends round and parties on them. If they didn't come round to eat them with him, they wouldn't get eaten up, because, as Stamatis says, he gets tired of eating them, what with having access to so many.

While he's foraging in the woods for all the edibles he can find, he might also chance on something that he doesn't eat himself, but that he knows is precious and highly sought after, so he picks that too. One day, he came to our house, carrying a huge sack - the kind that would hold 10 kilos of potatoes. It was full of malotira (Cretan mountain tea). At the rate we drink the stuff, we wouldn't need to procure any more supplies for the next five years. We suggested he take some back and give it to other people who may want it. "Nah," he said, " I've given away heaps already, I've got no one else to give it to. "So why did you pick it all off the mountain?" I asked him. "Well, it was there, so why not? Someone else would've got to it if I didn't." Makes sense, doesn't it?

If Stamatis hadn't picked it all himself, someone else would have got to it. It's a Greek thing to have it all for yourself, and share only with whoever you like. I know for a fact, that if he had left the malotira tea of Crete just there where he had found it, since he wasn't going to use it himself, grazing animals would have eaten it. If he didn't intend to use it himself, and he didn't have anyone to give it to, he would have thrown it away. How wasteful. Hania already has a grazing pasture problem, which is why animals are fed on manufactured feed. This is one way of destroying the food chain, without even realising it. This kind of greed - keep it all for yourself, share nothing, chuck the excess - is found mainly in the agricultural sector: my husband likes to go hunting, but can never pick up enough game, because poachers get to it before him. They hunt during periods in which hunting is forbidden, and if they can't carry everything that they kill, they leave it on the mountains to rot away.



Not all nature lovers are so thoughtless. My bachelor uncle lives in a property on the land that he works. He likes to cultivate wild greens, but he always procures his seeds and cutting via legal and more sustainable methods. His garden is filled with stamnagathi which he had once bought with the roots, and re-planted it in his garden. It seeded, and now the field is covered with patches of thorny cpiny chicory, which he picks whenever he wants to have "wild" greens for lunch, to go with some fresh fish from the local fishmonger, or eggs from his own chicken coop.




He is also a lover of mountain tea. A few years ago, he bought some cuttings of diktamo, another mountain tea herb from Crete, and planted them in flower boxes. As time passed, the diktamo bush grew, and he took cuttings of his own and planted them in the classic Greek cheese tins that tourists often see planted with geraniums, basil, and other aromatic flowers and herbs. Apart from its decorative aspect, diktamo is used with malotira to make a very aromatic tea drink. He didn't have to rape the countryside to get his fill, like Stamatis.

I still have Stamatis' malotira and my uncle's diktamo, and here's how we make our tea with it, which by the way, is very good for soothing sore throats and the common cold. Place a heaped tablespoon of dried diktamo, a heaped teaspoon of matzourana (marjoram) and a fistful of malotira into a saucepan. Fill the pot with water. The malotira will sit on top of the water, but not for long - as the water boils away, it will soak it up. Let the water boil till it takes on the colour of tea. Strain it into a cup, add sugar (I never do), but not milk (I know of only one person who adds milk to it, and this is considered highly unusual). The really good thing about this tea, is that you make and drink it one night, then leave the pot with the remining tea and leaves in it for the next night, and simply top it up with water and heat it. It may be good enough for a third day, too (albeit weaker), so it really isn't necessary to rape the countryside to get access to it.

This post is dedicated to my uncle Nikos.

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MORE WILD GREENS RECIPES:
Kalitsounia fried
Kalitsounia in the oven
Marathopites
Wild asparagus
Hortopita (spanakopita)
Horta in winter
Horta in summer
Sorrel
Swiss chard (silverbeet)
Spiral pie
Eggs with mustard greens