There are quite a few thyme varieties for cooking out there. Thyme is one of my favorite herbs to cook with and plant in my containers, but in all honesty I stick to 2 maybe 3 varieties in my herb garden. As I was harvesting my thyme today I remembered reading about all these different species of thyme available to cooks and gardeners.
I came across 8 thyme varieties for cooking as I was planning my own little herb container garden. But the ones I absolutely must have on hand are : the Common Thyme, Lemon Thyme and Variegated Thyme variety. I chose the latter just because it is so pretty, both in the containers and in our dishes.
The runner-up would have to be the Orange Thyme variety, If I can only get my hands on any plants in the spring. I’m very fond of that one because I can use it anywhere I would normally use some orange peel, a clean fresh flavor. Not to mention, the thyme blossoms. How pretty are those thyme blossoms kids ? Sprinkle a few over a salad, a bowl of rice and even in drinks, talk about a gorgeous garnish !
Add them to a nice lemon thyme salad dressing for extra flavor and beautiful appeal. Did I say how easy it is to grow your own thyme ? Probably the most easy going herb in my containers, plant and water and they just do their beautiful thing.
These are all the thyme varieties I came across, but who really knows..there might be many more.
Thyme Varieties
- Common Thyme
- Lemon Thyme
- Orange Thyme
- Variegated Thyme
- Creeping Thyme
- Caraway Thyme
- Conehead Thyme
- Za’atar Thyme
I AM anxious to find orange thyme now that you talked about it, I have lemon thyme in my garden and love to chew a bit as I cook.