Herb
Oregano
A robust kitchen herb, used in food or a light tea, traditionally valued for its antimicrobial and digestive support.
⤢📊 How it ranks (our editor score) — 79/100Tap to see the breakdown
🌱 What it is
Oregano is a Mediterranean herb in the mint family, used fresh or dried to season everything from tomato sauce to roasted vegetables.
📜 Where it comes from
Oregano has flavored Mediterranean cooking since ancient Greece, where its name was said to mean joy of the mountain, and Greco-Roman physicians including Dioscorides recommended it for coughs, digestion, and wounds. Mediterranean households have long kept it as both a kitchen staple and a simple home remedy. It spread to the rest of Europe and eventually the world through trade and migration.
✨ Why it's good for you
- May help support a healthy gut and digestion
- May help support the body's natural defenses
- May help support respiratory comfort during colds
- May help supply antioxidants from a common kitchen staple
🥗 Nutrition
Per 1 tsp dried (1 g) · about 3 calories
- Vitamin K 2.2mcg
- Iron 0.7mg
- Manganese 0.05mg
- Calcium 16mg
Source: USDA FoodData Central
🥄 How to use it
Use oregano generously in cooking, or steep 1 teaspoon of dried oregano in hot water for 5–10 minutes as a teaA warm drink made by steeping herbs in hot water. How to make a tea →. Keep to culinary and tea amounts — concentrated oregano oil is very strong.
How much: Generous culinary use, or 1 teaspoon dried herbA plant, or part of one, used for flavor, food, or gentle health support. More → as a teaA warm drink made by steeping herbs in hot water. How to make a tea →; concentrated oil only heavily diluted, sparingly.
Why it works: Herbalists point to oregano's aromatic oils, particularly carvacrol and thymol, as having natural antimicrobial properties, while its bitter compounds are thought to stimulate digestive juices.
Show full details & how to prepare it
Oregano is the bold, peppery herbA plant, or part of one, used for flavor, food, or gentle health support. More → of Mediterranean kitchens, and beyond its flavor it has a long reputation for fighting microbes and easing digestionHow your body breaks food down into pieces small enough to use for energy. More →. A simple teaA warm drink made by steeping herbs in hot water. How to make a tea → of the dried leaves can comfort a cold or a heavy stomach.
The leaf and teaA warm drink made by steeping herbs in hot water. How to make a tea → are gentle and food-friendly. The concentrated oregano oil, however, is a very different thing — extremely strong, and only ever used heavily diluted and sparingly, never swallowed neat. For everyday support, the herbA plant, or part of one, used for flavor, food, or gentle health support. More → itself is all you need.
Ways to prepare it
⚠️ Cautions
- The concentrated essential oil is potent: always dilute it heavily, never swallow it undiluted, and avoid it in pregnancy.
- Those allergic to mint-family herbs (basil, sage, mint) may react.
- May lower blood sugar and mildly thin the blood — culinary amounts are gentlest.
📚 Learn more
🌿 Deeper natural detail
🩺 The conventional view
💬 Ask Remy about Oregano
📚 Resource confidence
Based on mentions in health references
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