Hardy Marjoram
Hardy marjoram aka Italian Oregano (Origanum × majoricum) is an infertile hybrid which can only reproduce vegetatively. Its parents are a subspecies of oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. virens) which is native to the extreme western Mediterranean and marjoram (Origanum majorana) which is native to the island of Cyprus and to a very small portion of the adjacent coast of Turkey.
Hardy marjoram is a perennial herb; and it is generally considered to be winter hardy in USDA zones 6-9 (although much more ambitious claims are often seen). However, in zones 6 and 7 prolonged wet weather in winter and early spring will often be fatal.
Hardy marjoram retains flavors that are a mixture of the characteristics of its parents. It contains both carvacrol (the flavor oregano) and sabinyl compounds (the flavor marjoram). In cooking, it can be used to replace all or part of the oregano specified in a recipe when a more subtle and more complex flavor is desired. It should not be used as a substitute for Syrian oregano (Origanum syriacum) unless one wishes to completely change the character of the resulting dish. Hardy marjoram can usually replace marjoram when a bolder flavor is desired, but probably not in a bouquet garni.
Because this hybrid has arisen multiple times in cultivation, cultivars can be significantly different. One unnamed cultivar propagated at the former DeBaggio’s Herb Farm and Nursery in Chantilly, Virginia, is both flavorful and winter hardy. In 2022, it survived in St. Louis, Missouri, to exposure at minus six degrees Fahrenheit with no snow cover to provide thermal insulation and protection from desiccating winds. The cultivar ‘Hilltop’ promoted by the famous herb grower and teacher Madelene Hill is also worthy of serious consideration. The early history of ‘Hilltop’ is described in Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox, “Our favorite oregano in the kitchen,” The Herbarist, volume 70, 2004, pages 4-9.
Hardy marjoram was first described taxonomically in 1827 from the island of Majorca in the Balearic Islands. It is also considered to be native to Spain. The creation of this hybrid would not have been possible until marjoram was transported from one end of the Mediterranean to the other in antiquity. More recently hardy marjoram has been identified as a garden hybrid in other locations.
Hardy marjoram is an example of plant evolution that has been unintentionally influenced by human activity. One of the first scientists to develop this concept was Dr. Edgar Anderson of the Missouri Botanical Garden. See, Edgar Anderson, Plants, Man and Life, University of California Press 1952, reprinted 1967, reprinted by the Missouri Botanical Garden Press 1997.
The relationship between hardy marjoram and Sicilian oregano, if any, has yet to be genetically explored. Some wild populations of oregano in Sicily do contain significant amounts of the compound trans-sabinenehydrate which is a marjoram flavor. Since this flavor is not expected in common oregano (Origanum vulgare), its appearance in some populations of wild Sicilian oregano is a continuing mystery.
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