Lemon thyme

Thym citron

What it is

Lemon thyme is a garden hybrid whose parentage has never been settled — long given as common thyme crossed with large thyme, without the genetics ever confirming it. Plants drift back towards plain thyme as they age, so growers take cuttings only from the branches that still smell of lemon.

In the kitchen

It is a finishing thyme: strip the leaves in and add them in the last two minutes, since a long braise burns off the citral and leaves only resin. On fish or scallops, warm a sprig through the butter rather than boiling it.

Goes with

Scallop Lemon Butter Chicken Apricot Honey

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