An herb, a spice, an aromatic, etc. — What's your own “catnip”?

Oregano. Fresh Oregano. I grow it to eat of course, but I love to just pinch a leaf off when I am outside in my garden just for the smell of it.

Basil. I grow it most summers because, pesto! DD is setting up several large raised planters in our front yard and intends to grow masses of herbs and veg. It’s all part of our healthy eating programme :-) I got to shovel and carry two yards of soil from the driveway into said boxes. It’s all part of my exercise programme :-(

Garlic. I guess it is overused, but whether in minced or powder form, garlic adds to so many dishes. Maybe not ice cream. Or maybe, we don’t know until we try, eh Ice Cream Boy? ICB has been banished during our weight loss programme, but his return to the stage is eagerly awaited. Just ten pounds away . . .

Fennel. I didn't know about using it unless it was in pre-made sausage. we learned to use it when we learned to make our own Smoked Salmon when some friends taught us. Now I love it! I like to munch on the seeds too. I guess I should try to grow it. 😀

I'm with John Liu - fresh basil. We use it copiously in the warm months when we can grow bushy plants, especially when we can pair it with good tomatoes, not to mention pesto. In colder months, my favorite is fresh rosemary. It will grow as a perennial in my zone 7b coastal zone as long as we don't have a freakish cold snap. So good with roasted meats, poultry and roasted vegetables. I only use basil and rosemary as fresh herbs, never dried. My third is fresh thyme...I love to rub leaves of these herbs between my fingers and inhale their scent.

For pure olfactory enjoyment, lemon verbena, lemon thyme and mint. My grandmother always grew mint so releasing the scent from a mint leaf takes me back to her garden.

Vanilla. I love the smell of vanilla so much I used to wear vanilla perfume from The Body Shop until e moved away from the city and I couldn’t easily get it any more. I still buy vanilla scented soap.

I grow basil all year, and I have a nice large healthy plant right now. I generally buy the plants at Trader Joe's for cheap and then repot them, and they grow extremely well here outdoors during the winter. In July and August, I have to grow it indoors when I am in the desert, as the heat is too severe, but it still does great in a sunny window.

That's not my catnip however, and I'm not sure I have one. If I did, it would probably be dill, and that is harder for me to grow. I love dill with lemon and garlic, and I use this for sauces and salad dressing, as well as for tartar sauce (without the garlic).

The herb I use the most is probably thyme.

It changes. At the moment it's the warmth you get from paprika in its different forms that I'm loving. I'm sure that will change with the seasons LOL

Not a herb or spice but still used sparingly as a sprinkle… pomegranate seeds at the moment. I like them fully ripe so quite soft meaning not too crunchy and I’m loving their flavour.

I don't understand the embargo on dried rosemary. Basil, yes. That doesn't dry well. But rosemary does. It's really pungent and tasty. Although rosemary is totally hardy here I bring in whole branches just so I don't have to trek to the allotment in the cold and rain. They dry in the kitchen and are excellent. I use rosemary in large quantities.

I don't have a favourite herb or spice. I like the seasonality of basil but I enjoy them all.

I promise you, I'm not drowning all the food with fenugreek! I'm not even opening the jars to sniff. Though I do use Penzey's Ethiopian Style Pepper Blend (cayenne red pepper, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cardamom, cumin, black pepper, allspice, turmeric, cloves, Ceylon cinnamon and coriander) instead of cayenne and other stuff a lot, like on cauliflower, and other things you can throw ’most anything on, possibly for the catnip. ;) But I don't neglect the rest of the spice cabinet, though my herb garden is kind of ragged after all the rain. My favorite fresh herb is tarragon—I don't know the kind. It just grows. Love it, but it's not catnip. :) I suppose I could try planting fenugreek, but the herbs are only a few feet from the roses and lemon tree, so that might create a scent war. ...

I used to grow tarragon until I discovered that I hate it. I had seen it used on a lot of French cooking shows and thought I needed it, but I find it completely repulsive, for some reason, possibly the way some people do not like cilantro, which I love.

I make my own Ethiopian Berbere spice blend, but I have bought other African spice blends as well, which I found a bit too peppery, so that the spices got drowned out.

Someone gave Kevin a set of spice blends from Spiceology, https://spiceology.com/products/rub-set-6-pack-mini-rub-jars/ , but so far, the ones I've opened taste mostly like pepper and salt, and so I would only be able to use them sparingly and not get much flavor from them beyond the salt and pepper.

While I love nutmeg is certain dishes, especially eggnog and Lebanese meat dishes, I can't stand it in spinach. Herbs and spices for me can sometimes have distinctly repellent effects, but I don't think this happens that often. I tend to like Indian spice blends, but I like to make my own so that I can reduce the amount of cinnamon in them. I do use cinnamon in them - just much less than what I find in spice blends from a store.

Speaking of repellent - we planted a rosemary bush hoping it would repel mosquitoes in the back yard, but I don't think it worked. We have to cut it back constantly because it is extremely invasive.

I'm gonna add garlic to mine. I was cooking some rice for SO and some fish before I went to work. The butter, onion and garlic smell mixed together before I added the rice to toast was so HEAVENLY. It is one of my favorite smells on Earth, not just cooking smells.

Does lemon count? I love all things lemon. My favorite dessert is lemon squares; my favorite cocktail is a lemon drop; my favorite non-alcoholic drink is an Arnold Palmer (preferably from Chick-Fil-A with sweet tea and diet lemonade). I have a recipe for lemon rice and another for lemon steamed potatoes - both are favorite side dishes. Lemon curd on Biscoff cookies or ginger snaps. Lemon ginger tea. Simply Lemonade Light.

Borgo de Medici AGLIO,OLIO & PEPERONCINO SEASONING BLEND . I’m putting it on everything.

Yeah, I'd think lemon counts if it makes your toes curl just to smell it. ;)

Another vote for rosemary. Basil is very nice but we live where the winters are cold and pesto only gets you so far. Rosemary is so very easy to dry and keeps so well, just opening the jar in the winter makes me happy! And with care (mulch, a water tipi) I can get the rosemary plants to winter over, if they're on a south-facing wall so there's always plenty of fresh rosemary in-season.

Definitely basil and rosemary grows like crazy here. They even use it for parking lot hedges. I also grow dill, oregano, cilantro, parsley and thyme for frequent use.

I’m with bbstx regarding lemons.🍋💛 We have a lemon tree that provides more than I could ever use.

I also love McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning. Just a whiff of it makes me happy. Their Chicken Seasoning is nice, too, including for pork.

what comes to mind is green cilantro/coriander seeds and borage flowers which i just eat straight out of the garden. if some make it into a salad even better

Mine changes several times a year.

Generally I would say fresh herbs particularly with citrus notes. Basil, parsley, lemon thyme, cilantro, various mints, lemon balm, thai lime, verveine etc….

Of late the combination of lemon and onions is the starting flavor of my meals. It started with spinach pies. Since then on rice, pasta, salads and sandwiches. Both sauteed onions finished with lemon juice and sliced onions marinated in lemon juice.

Mine is Sage. I love the smell and the taste even more.

Fresh cut basil smells like summer here, but I prefer cinnamon basil to pet. I could sniff cardamom all day long. For some reason it reminds me of my youth in the California forests?

But catnip? I love dried and powdered rosemary. I can't tell you the intoxication I experience when I use white wine with powdered rosemary to roast chicken. I'm not interested in chewing on needles! Since I grow my own, it never goes bad.

All the fresh herbs we love. I'd put tarragon, all the basils, and cilantro at the top of the list. We managed to keep Thai basi, mint, parsley, and head lettuce growing all winter hydroponically. Perfect for fresh spring rolls and lettuce wraps without having to hit up the Korean market. The Thai basil mother plant and her three offspring just passed last month. (started a half dozen more seeds).

Just made my Spring/Summer spice blends/dry brines. Twice a year...Spring/Fall. Filled my kitchen spice jars from bulk. Lets me know what i need to order. Small list. Coriander, fennel seed, dill. And 5 lbs of sesame seed. Hopeful for delivery tomorrow. Waiting on sesame for another batch of chili crisp.

UrfaBiber is my catnip. Heavenly. Mesquite and amchur close second. Amchur is dried ground green mango. Fenegreek and sumac need a run in the spice grinder to release their full scent.

If i'm within a few blocks of Kalustyan's, a magnet draws me in. Always something new to try. Should be on any NYC visit bucket list.

Love tarragon! A little can go a long way. I often put a pinch in scrambled eggs or an omelet, and it takes classic chicken soup or stew to the next level, IMPO. It's wonderful for salmon too. The aroma reminds me of sweet clover or sweetgrass.

Another I love is a curry powder blend by Frontier Co-op that I buy from local bulk stores. A spoonful makes beef stew wonderful, again IMPO, and it makes our favorite roast chicken seasoning with some lime juice and smoked salt. I make chicken salad with it too using chopped apples, mayo and raisins.

Smoked salt is my other current love.

All of the above add umami, I believe.

P.S. I have fresh rosemary in my yard, so I rarely resort to dried. I use it a lot too - along with lots of fresh sweet marjoram.

I love the smell of sweet marjoram. I have not cooked with it a lot but if I could find soap or shampoo I would bath in it.

I used to rub it on my wrists to enjoy the fragrance 🙂

And I'm chuffed that I started 3 new marjoram plants from cuttings and they're growing vigorously.

My rosemary easily starts from cuttings as well. I just stick them in water and once they sprout roots I pot them up.

I've done that with basil and mint too.