Summer Savory Uses

Main Courses

• You can use fresh or dried summer savory leaves in many main course dishes, including meats, stews, eggs, chicken dishes and sausages. It is especially good paired with a strong-tasting meat, such as roast mutton--a dish in which summer savory is traditionally used. If you are making a chowder, summer savory can be added to enhance the taste of the potatoes and seafood in the dish.

Vegetables and Legumes

• The Germans call summer savory Bohenkraut, or bean-herb, because it is often used in bean and lentil dishes. Add it to any bean or lentil dish you make, and not only will it improve the taste, but also increase its digestibility. You can add summer savory to any strong-smelling vegetable, such as cabbage, turnips or Brussel sprouts, and the herb's pleasant aroma helps mitigate the odor of the cooked vegetable, too.

Dressings and Marinades

• If you are making a vinaigrette dressing, adding summer savory enhances its flavor. Summer savory vinaigrette is a good accompaniment to mixed green salads and fennel salads, too. It can also be used in marinades, herb butter and mayonnaise. Summer savory is often included in flavoring mixtures such as bouquets garnis and fines herbes, too.

Medicinal Uses

• Summer savory has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. You can use it today in the form of an extract or an essential oil to help cure flatulence, colic, and indigestion. Summer savory oil has also been used to treat diarrhea, and as an expectorant. If you crush a few summer savory leaves in your hand, releasing their oil, you can rub them on a bee sting to alleviate the pain. In the 17th century, summer savory was used to sharpen eyesight and hearing. And in the 1830s, one cookbook writer advised his readers to make a tea of summer savory leaves as a cold remedy.