Rosemary is usually cooked either fresh or dried when stewing meat, fish or vegetable dishes. The very aromatic herb has an intense, quite tart aroma that goes well with many dishes.
Dose rosemary sparingly
Due to its very aromatic taste, rosemary should only be used sparingly, otherwise its aroma will dominate the entire dish and quickly make it taste too intense. You can use the herb in a number of ways: Whole sprigs of rosemary are stewed with the dish and then removed before serving - the stems of the rosemary are too hard to eat. The needles, on the other hand, can be eaten without hesitation, but you should cook them in smaller pieces if possible. They are quite tough and are therefore difficult to chew. Add ground rosemary just before the end of the cooking time, otherwise its aroma will evaporate - the smaller you cut the rosemary, the more the essential oils will evaporate.
Is rosemary poisonous?
Like many other herbs, rosemary is toxic to a small extent, i.e. poisonous. However, you would have to ingest fairly large amounts for this toxin to be effective. You should be particularly careful with extended rosemary baths, because after a while they can do the opposite of what they are supposed to do: instead of stimulating the circulation, they lead to circulatory problems. In theory, you could also eat rosemary raw, but you probably won't like it in this form - the leathery leaves are quite tough. Although symptoms of poisoning from rosemary are quite rare, it can still trigger intolerance in sensitive people.
Are the flowers edible?
Not only the leaves and young shoots of rosemary are edible, the pretty flowers of the herb can also be eaten without hesitation. For example, they are ideal for garnishing dishes and other salads. Incidentally, rosemary develops the highest concentration of aromatic essential oils during its flowering period, which is why you can harvest the herb even when it is in bloom.
tips and tricks
Don't worry if your cats like to nibble on the strongly scented rosemary: the herb is not poisonous to either cats or dogs. However, as is so often the case, the dose makes the poison: Too much rosemary can lead to intolerance reactions in pets, but has no serious consequences.
IJA