Re: Rue the day: Of onions (was: of snails and slugs)

On 13 June, Sally Caves wrote:


<snip>

> I went to the web and looked it up.  I got
>various and contradictory results...
<snip>

>Used commonly in Middle Eastern cooking
>as a spice."
>Have any of you ever come across this herb and used
>it culinarily--or heard of it used this way?  Or even
>heard of it?
    I have a book which deals with local plants which
are/were used as spices and/or medicine. Rue is definitely
listed. (it is apparently also called, in English, the "Herb of Grace".)
    It grows (as far as local varieties go) wild in the hills
here in Israel. Now that I am looking at the picture in the book,
it _does_ looks familiar --- like something I've come across during
various hikes (but I never knew there was a culinary use for it!)
    Anyhow, in Hebrew, it's called /pegam/. It sounds a lot like it
should be derived from the root "p-g-m" that signifies "damage";
;-)  but it turns out that that would be a naive and incorrect derivation.
    It's actually  apparently related to the Greek "peganon". Also to the
Arabic /fi-dZaEn/ (and my apologies to speakers of Arabic, who obviously
can pronounce it better than I can!).
    Anyhow, the Arabic is said to mean "in it are demons",
(think "djinn" or "genie" ) which  would be appropriate,
since, according to my book, this plant
has long been held to be effective in warding off evil spirits and the
evil eye .
    The Romans used it as an ingredient in a sauce they called
"garum"  (Didn't we once have a discussion on garum? It sounds familiar).
    My book unfortunately doesn't give any recipes for using rue,
but it does warn that this plant should be used in "minimal quantities"
in the kitchen.
    The one thing it _does_ recommend is to add a small amount
to olives soaking in oil to enhance the flavor. (the illustration shows
black olives).
    One last thing: according to my book, the fresh leaves can be
kept frozen in small bags; one can then thaw out a small amount
for immediate use.

Dan Sulani


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