Za'atar - not what you think

"when I go to shops and see za’atar in a jar, and I look at the ingredients, it says thyme, salt, sesame. That’s not za’atar. Za’atar is an herb. It does have some affinities with thyme and marjoram, but it’s really not them. It’s a particular thing. And when you go to Palestine and Israel and try those things, you’ll really get an idea of what it is, and it’s a bit different."

Yotam Ottolenghi

I actually got to watch a cooking program on the television the other evening - well half of it. I would have watched it all (or at least recorded it), but I had forgotten it was on. It was Nigel Slater (one of my very favourites as you know) in the Middle East. (You can catch it on Abc iview.) In some ways it was marginally disappointing - it was more of a travelogue than a cooking show - so I guess I'm really saying that it wasn't what I expected. And I don't think he talks as well as he writes - but then I guess if you are writing - properly and not like me who just rambles in an aimless fashion - then you can be more considered.

Anyway all of that is an aside - although actually part of what I am writing about here is how one thing leads to another - it's what the brain does all the time is it not? It jumps, well no, not jumps, but slides from one thing to another.

But I digress again. In the course of this particular episode which was on Lebanon there was a segment on Za'atar. I was asked by one of my gourmet friends once to supply her with a recipe and I did find one, indeed I have made it myself. I think this is the recipe that I gave her:

3 parts toasted sesame seeds

2 parts dried thyme

1 part dried marjoram

1/2-1 part sumac

salt (optional)

The thyme and marjoram should be as fine as possible.

I'm not sure where the recipe came from. It's a printed page in one of my folders of leaflets of recipes I have found here and there. Of course, this is one of those spice blends that has thousands and thousands of variations - every Middle-eastern housewife has her own, but having now read a fair bit on the subject I do think this recipe is rather wrong - wrong herbs, wrong proportions..

Even Greg Malouf, doesn't really give a recipe because he just says to mix bought za'atar with sumac:

"To make za’atar, you need to buy a bag of ground sumac and a bag of za’atar (which will actually be a mixture of wild thyme and sesame seeds) from a Middle Eastern food store. Combine the two in a ratio of three za’atar to one sumac (it makes sense to begin with a tablespoon measure) and store in an airtight jar.

Alternatively, stir in enough olive oil to make a loose paste. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge, where it will keep quite happily for a couple of months."

Having now investigated the whole thing from Wikipedia to various blogs and various chefs, I now realise that the basic problem is one of language. And yes, of course, you can add things to your taste, but the basic recipe is just the herb in question (coming to that), sumac, sesame seeds and salt. Anything else is extraneous to the real thing. Mind you I have seen several that have added things like cumin, mint or coriander, fennel - which I have to say would change the taste enormously.

The real problem is the herb that is the basis of za'atar. You will see people say thyme, oregano, hyssop and sometimes marjoram or savory. And all of them are sort of right. I am now pretty convinced that the herb in question is origanum syriacum - which also goes by the names of wild thyme, bible hyssop, Arabic oregano and wild marjoram - which is how all those other, actually different herbs, get into the picture. All very confusing. But what we are really looking at is this one.

Which I have to say looks a bit like what I have growing in my garden. Anyway Nigel Slater visited a man, who I now find is really pretty famous, and the most well known supplier of za'atar to the gourmet world - Abu-Kassem. Lots of food writers have visited his farm in Lebanon and written about his story.

The origins of his business vary slightly in the telling but come down to the difficulty of obtaining the wild herb - which is called 'za'atar' in Arabic - in Lebanon. Whether this was because of the danger of foraging when bombs were falling everywhere or whether nomads and ordinary people had basically gathered it to the point of extinction, he decided to farm it. Over time he has bred hardy plants that he now grows in large quantities on his farm in a little village, some of it in greenhouses, some of it outside. And he has travelled to other farmers to show them how to do it too.

To he and his wife, and the Arab world in general the herb is za'atar - as is the spice blend itself. Hence another reason for the general confusion. Having harvested the herb, he then makes the spice blend:

"Everything is done with modest tools: wood sifters and bowls, plastic tubs, glass jars. He makes the spice blend by running the dried za’atar and sumac through a noisy grinder, followed by a mechanical sifter. Then he toasts sesame seeds in an iron pot over a portable gas burner, tossing the seeds in the air until they are crackling and fragrant. Into the mound of soft za’atar and sumac they go, stirred in and then scooped into plastic bags weighed on an electronic scale. Anjali Prasertongup - Kitchn

You can watch all this on Nigel Slater's program. I read several food writers' accounts of their visit - Nigel Slater was by no means the first, but is probably the most well-known. Perhaps the most comprehensive was one from somewhere called Kavey Eats.

Abu Kassem's business does not stop there though. He also makes an oil which is supposed to have various curative virtues, although it is tough to take and his wife Fatima actually pickles the leaves in a mixture of coarse salt, water and lemon.

There are of course, a zillion things that you can do with za'atar but the main one is Manoush (manouche, manakish, manaqish, manaeesh manakeesh or in singular form man'ousheh or mankousheh), which is a particular kind of Lebanese bread which is sprinkled, quite thickly with za'atar and oil. It's a modern foodie craze. There are specialist restaurants or snack bars in Melbourne.

So now that I know that za'atar is oregano not thyme, savory or hyssop (I did try to grow some hyssop but it died), I might have another go. I did see some recipes that said to use fresh oregano, but dried seems to be more authentic. You just have to grind it finely to a powder. You may be able to find seeds and plants online - although with difficulty I think at this point.

Oh and you can now buy packets or jars of a za'atar spice mix in your local supermarket anyway. Apparently you should check the ingredients to see if there are a large amount of sesame seeds - these are the cheapest ingredient and are often used to bulk the mixture up.

Somewhere I found this ratio - 2/3 herb, 1/3 sumac and 1/4 of the total of these two of toasted sesame seeds plus salt to taste. I think from everything else I have read this sounds like it is more or less right. But then as I said at the beginning every Middle-eastern housewife will have her own recipe, which probably depends on the proportions and whether she adds anything else. So start with that and then experiment a bit.

See how I slid through herbs, Lebanon, Nigel Slater, Abu-Kassem to Manoush and supermarkets?