|
|
|
|
Common sage
|
| |
|
| |
Salvia officinalis (Sage, Common sage, Garden sage, Kitchen sage, Culinary sage, Dalmatian sage, Purple sage, Broadleaf sage, Red sage) is a small perennial evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers.
Nutrition Facts
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Common sage' Start a new discussion about 'Common sage' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Salvia officinalis (Sage, Common sage, Garden sage, Kitchen sage, Culinary sage, Dalmatian sage, Purple sage, Broadleaf sage, Red sage) is a small perennial evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is native to the Mediterranean region and commonly grown as a kitchen and medicinal herb or as an ornamental garden plant. The word sage or derived names are also used for a number of related and non related species.
Uses
Common sage is also grown in parts of Europe, especially the Balkans for distillation of an essential oil, though other species, such as Salvia fruticosa may also be harvested and distilled with it.
Culinary
As a herb, sage is considered to have a slight peppery flavour. In Western cooking, it is used for flavouring fatty meats (especially as a marinade), cheeses (Sage Derby), and some drinks. In the United States, Britain and Flanders, sage is used with onion for poultry or pork stuffing and also in sauces. In French cuisine, sage is used for cooking white meat and in vegetable soups. Germans often use it in sausage dishes, and sage forms the dominant flavouring in the English Lincolnshire sausage. Sage is also common in Italian cooking. Sage is sautéd in olive oil and butter until crisp, then plain or stuffed pasta is added (burro e salvia). In the Balkans and the Middle East, it is used when roasting mutton.
Medicinal
The Latin name for sage, salvia, means “to heal". Although the effectiveness of Common Sage is open to debate, it has been recommended at one time or another for virtually every ailment. Modern evidence supports its effects as an anhidrotic, antibiotic, antifungal, astringent, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic, and tonic. In a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial, sage was found to be effective in the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
The strongest active constituents of Sage are within its essential oil, which contains cineole, borneol, and thujone. Sage leaf contains tannic acid, oleic acid, ursonic acid, ursolic acid, cornsole, cornsolic acid, fumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, niacin, nicotinamide, flavones, flavonoid glycosides, and estrogenic substances.
Caution is indicated when used in conjunction with central nervous system stimulants or depressants.
History
Salvia officinalis has been used since ancient times for warding off evil, snakebites, increasing women's fertility, and more. The Romans likely introduced it to Europe from Egypt. Theophrastus wrote about two different sages, a wild undershrub he called sphakos, and a similar cultivated plant he called elelisphakos. Pliny the Elder said that the latter plant was called "Salvia" by the Romans, and used as a diuretic, a local anesthetic for the skin, a styptic, and for other uses. During the Carolingian Empire of the early middle ages, monastery gardens were cultivating the plant. Walafrid Strabo described it in his poem Hortulus as having a sweet scent and being useful for many human ailments—he went back to the Greek root for the name and called it Lelifagus.
The plant had a high reputation throughout the middle ages, with many sayings referring to its healing properties and value. It was sometimes called S. salvatrix (Sage the Savior), and was one of the ingredients of Four Thieves Vinegar, a blend of herbs which was supposed to ward off the plague. Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen all recommended sage as a diuretic, hemostatic, emmenagogue, and tonic.
Cultivars
There are a number of cultivars, with the majority grown as ornamentals rather than for their herbal properties. All are valuable as small ornamental flowering shrubs, and for low ground cover, especially in sunny dry environments. They are easily raised from summer cuttings. Named cultivars include:
- 'Purpurascens', a purple-leafed cultivar, considered by some to be strongest of the garden sages,
- 'Tricolor', a cultivar with white, yellow and green variegated leaves,
- 'Berggarten', a cultivar with large leaves,
- 'Icterina', a cultivar with yellow-green variegated leaves,
- 'Alba', a white-flowered cultivar,
- 'Extrakta', has leaves with higher oil concentrations.
- 'Lavandulaefolia', a small leaved cultivar.
See also
Sources
- The Herb Society of America New Encyclopedia of Herbs & Their Uses, Deni Bown (New York: DK, 2001)
External links
|
| |
|
|
