wild mountain thyme
Apr. 18th, 2004 10:11 amOne reason (usually the main reason) I buy prepared foods is that I think they're going to be easier on my hands than foodstuffs I buy closer to a state of nature. It helps to have garlic that some nice factory has already peeled and minced and put in a jar for me. Or the root vegetables that occasionally turn ip at one of the local stores, already peeled and reduced to large dice.
I considered buying fresh thyme. But then I looked at the packet of dried (right next to it at Wilson Farms), and decided that the loss in flavor would be worth it, for not having to do the fiddly hand-intensive work of separating leaves from stems. Wrong. This was WHOLE thyme plants, dried with leaves and stems attached. The stems don't grind to powder by rubbing between my palms, like the leaves. Throwing a spoonful of the whole mess in a food processor with other ingredients leaves irritating tasteless inch-long bits of stem to be picked out of the finished dish.
I considered buying fresh thyme. But then I looked at the packet of dried (right next to it at Wilson Farms), and decided that the loss in flavor would be worth it, for not having to do the fiddly hand-intensive work of separating leaves from stems. Wrong. This was WHOLE thyme plants, dried with leaves and stems attached. The stems don't grind to powder by rubbing between my palms, like the leaves. Throwing a spoonful of the whole mess in a food processor with other ingredients leaves irritating tasteless inch-long bits of stem to be picked out of the finished dish.