Do you smell that pizza? Chances are that the herbal whiff you’re getting is oregano. It’s the herb that gives the pizza the characteristic smell of green, camphory, and herbal yumminess.

When my grands are hungry, I put a flour tortilla on the griddle with a little pizza sauce and cheese. Voila! A mini pizza. They won’t eat it until it’s been topped with dried oregano. “Nana, do you have some of that green stuff in a shaker?”

What’s in a name?
The focus of this article is the species Origanum vulgare. In doing the research, I found so many different names for oregano. Greek oregano, Turkish oregano, Mexican oregano, wild marjoram, and more. Just be sure to check the botanical name and look for Origanum vulgare because as we know, you can't trust common names. The essential oil that comes from this oregano is typically high in carvacrol with lesser amounts of thymol. Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens HBK) is a different species and has the opposite composition, with a higher percentage of thymol and a lesser amount of carvacrol.

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