a word which has its origin in the Latin herba meaning a grass or other green plant. Botanists use the term to refer to a plant with a stem which is not woody (as that of a tree or shrub is); but the general use of the word is now in its culinary sense, indicating a plant whose green parts (usually leaves, sometimes stalks) are used to flavour food. However, it is still also used to indicate a plant of medicinal importance.
Until the 19th century the word was pronounced with a silent ‘h’ on both sides of the Atlantic; but this usage now survives only on the American side.
Although a plant which is a herb may yield a spice (e.g. coriander, whose leaves are a herb and whose seeds are a spice), the definition offered for spice shows that there is a clear enough distinction in practice, largely based on the part of the plant to be used. Most herbs can be used in dried form, although there is a general preference for using them fresh. Spices, on the other hand, are almost always, although not invariably, used in dried form.
The noun ‘herbal’ usually reflects the botanical or medicinal senses of the word and is applied to books which catalogue and illustrate herbs. Some herbals are referred to very frequently in food history contexts: e.g. that of Gerard (1597, rev edn 1633).
The term pot-herb is defined by the NSOED as ‘a herb grown or suitable for growing in a kitchen garden’ (which rather invites the question how one determines whether a herb is suitable for a kitchen garden and the potential answer ‘if it is a pot-herb’). Ayto (1993) does better in remarking that the term ‘denoted from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries any plant whose leaves and stalks could be boiled as greens’.
For herbal teas, see tisane.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Ayto, John (1993), The Diner's Dictionary, Oxford: OUP.
Bremness, Lesley (1994), Herbs, London: Dorling Kindersley.
Gerard, John (1633), The Herbal, New York: Dover.
Norman, Jill (1997), The Classic Herb Cookbook, London: Dorling Kindersley.
Rohde, Eleanour Sinclair (1936), Herbs and Herb Gardening, London: Medici.
