Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Cuban Oregano along with all the Cuban Oregano containing recipes presented on this site, with 473 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives information about Cuban Oregano and a listing of all the Cuban Oregano-based recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Cuban Oregano as a major herb flavouring.

Cuban Oregano, Plectranthus amboinicus, (also known as Spanish thyme, Orégano Brujo (Puerto Rico), Indian Borage, Húng chanh (Vietnam), Big Thyme (Grenada), Mexican thyme, Mexican mint, Queen of herbs, three-in-one herb, allherb and Mother of herbs) is a tender, fleshy, perennial herbaceous plant in the Lamiaceae (mint) family of flowering plants.

Originally native to Southern and Western Africa, it has been extensively introduced and cultivated in both the old and new world tropics. Being tender, it is not frost hardy, so must be grown in containers and brought indoors in cooler latitudes, but is gaining favour amongst gardeners.

In aspect, the plant resembles the common Coleus with fleshy, colourful foliage and brittle stems. The plant can reach 50cm in height with fleshy, slightly fuzzy, leaves arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers, when produced, are pale violet in colour.

When crushed there is a distinct lemony aroma, though the leaves themselves have a strong oregano-like flavour with overtones of sage. Indeed, the herb is used as a substitute for oregano in the food trade and food labelled 'oregano-flavoured' may well contain Cuban Oregano.

It is a commonly-used herb in the Caribbean. In Western cookery, the leaves excellent addition to stuffings for meat and poultry. When finely chopped they can also be used to flavour meat dishes, especially beef, lamb and game. Finely-chopped fresh leaves also make an excellent addition to pasta sauces and pizza sauces.