WEBVTT - Tarragon: Long Live the King 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.200 Hello, and welcome to Saber production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.760 I'm Anniris and I'm Lauren vogel Baum, and today we 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.840 have an episode for you about Tarragon, Yes. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:25.360 Which is an episode I fondly referred to as etymology Headache. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.800 Was there any particular reason this was on your mind? Lauren? 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.239 There are a whole list of herbs and spices that 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.559 I've got in our ideas sheet and this was one 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.680 of them, and it's kind of it's kind of a nice, 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.040 bright summary sort of herb. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:50.239 So yeah, Yeah, I have to say in the initial 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:55.240 search results when I saw this, what I didn't know 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.120 at the time would be Etymology Headache. It does have 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:01.520 a lot of very fun names. I was very intrigued. 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.520 Yeah, and dragon shows up in a lot of the names, 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:08.559 so that's always fun. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.880 Yeah, that was a pretty good hook. I mean, I know, 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.760 I know I've had tarragon before, but I can't like 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.640 recall it very specifically. But in one of the articles 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.319 that I use in researching this, they were talking about 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.760 how French cuisine, or at least modern French cuisine in 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.720 New York specifically, was moving away from Tarragon, which had 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.040 been so closely associated with it for so long, and 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.119 they were listing all these restaurants that, you know, don't 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.600 use tarragon anymore. No, but they were like, but there 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:50.400 is one holdout the Cuckoo. I've been there, and I 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.040 was just there in December, and I got to meet 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.760 up with the editor of the stuff when I never 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.320 told you book. Gave a van wherever you'd get your 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.560 books because we never met person to person, and she 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.160 suggested this restaurant and I happen to get the one 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:12.320 dish that had tarragon in it, the sweetbreads with tarragon. 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.000 I was like, oh, it was so good. Oh that 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.079 sounds lovely. Yeah, but it made me very happy that 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.760 I saw that the restaurant name. I had to look 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.040 at the menu immediately. I yes, that is what I got. 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:30.440 Oh delightful. Yeah. I actually don't like tarragon as much 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.720 as I think I'm going to like. Every time I 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:38.040 get some, I'm like, ah, it's like I don't dislike it. 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:39.880 I'm always just kind of like, oh, right, it's sort 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.839 of annest flavored. I feel like I always think I'm 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.320 going to like it more because part of my brain 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:48.520 still thinks it's fancy. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:50.960 Yes, due to. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.959 It's like heavy inclusion in things like the Silver Palette cookbook, 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.320 which we're going to talk about later. So here we are. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.960 Yes, absolutely, we're speaking of for past episodes. You can 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.799 see our episode on hawk cuisine. Mm, that was a 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.000 whole other side quest that I could not go down. 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.639 I did not have the time. No this episode. No 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:18.800 other herbs that we've done, licorice, peppercorns. 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:24.000 Yeah, yeah, there's there's some overlap in there, maybe absinthe. Yeah, yes, so. 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:30.880 That is quite the list of topics. Best to our question. Tarragon, 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:34.920 what is it? 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.880 Well, Tarragon is an herb with tender, narrow green leaves 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.640 that tastes of annis or or like licorice or fennel, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.840 maybe kind of bittersweet, a little herbal medicinal, kind of 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.960 tangy and peppery. It's used fresh or dried, and all 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.480 kinds of savory dishes like roasts or stews, particularly with chicken, 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.600 our fish, or in like egg or vegetable dishes, maybe 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:04.280 chopped fine, in fresh salads or in various sauces and dressings. 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.920 It's often used alongside other herbs for like like like 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:13.560 multi dimensional herbal properties. It can also be used in 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.240 sweet dishes and drinks to add a little bit of spice, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:21.800 perhaps especially alongside fruity flavors. It's sort of cool and 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.920 pike in both at the same time. It's the herbal 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:30.640 equivalent of like stepping from a warm sunny day into 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.560 a cool room, like like having that residual heat on 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:39.839 your skin and getting that that that cool woosh mmmm. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.760 Yeah, that is a lovely feeling, especially right now it's 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.440 so so hot outside. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:53.520 So I moved away from Florida anyway. Botanical name Artemisia 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.000 dragon coolest Dracunculus. Sure, I don't know. 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:57.440 Uh. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.400 Tarragon is a sort of shrubby scre ruby herbaceous plant 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.960 in the sunflower family astorossier. It's related to stuff like 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.800 mugwart and wormwood. It grows lots of soft, like non 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.800 woody stems from these underground rhizomes. The plant's true roots 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.680 grow into the ground off of those rhizomes. Stems go up, 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.599 roots go down. Yeah. The stems can reach about three 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.360 feet or a meter in height. The leaves are narrow 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.200 and sort of blade like, maybe an inch or two long, 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.040 like three to six centimeters, and they're this like soft 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.880 to glossy bluish green in color. It does grow wild, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.320 but the wild varieties don't often have a good flavor. 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.480 A couple of different cultivars developed for their flavor are 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.760 the ones that you're going to encounter for culinary use. 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.960 Those two main varieties are French and Russian terragon. French 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.000 is more anisey, a little sweeter, and more finicky to 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.479 grow like. It will not tolerate frost. Russian is more 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.520 mild and bitter, but more hardy. Both are d route resistant, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.640 which is cool. What's known as Mexican tarragon is from 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.760 a different genus altogether, but apparently tastes really similar to 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.719 French tarragon, but not really what we're talking about today. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.400 In French and Russian tarragon and wild tarragon, the tops 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.320 of the stems will grow these clusters of small white 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.680 to yellow to green flowers that may develop seeds, but 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.400 not all cultivars do, and in any case, the plant 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.640 does propagate more readily from those rhizomes, which will spread 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:30.120 horizontally under the surface of the ground. The flowers are edible, too, 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.200 but we're mostly interested in the leaves. You can harvest 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.120 whole stems or just strip the leaves. In the supermarket, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.240 you'll usually find packs of whole stems. You can toss 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.040 those whole into soups or stews to be taken out 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.919 at the end of cooking, or you can strip the 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.600 leaves and use those whole or chopped. Cooking tarragon for 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.560 too long can turn it bitter, so you might want 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.040 to add it towards the end of cooking, or use 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.760 it in dishes that don't have a long cooking time 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.240 to begin with, like eggs or fish or cream sauces. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.320 And it does lose flavor when it's dried, so it's 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:07.760 best to use fresh or frozen when you can. And yeah, 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:13.320 tarragon is either native or successfully introduced to basically the 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:18.280 entire Northern hemisphere, so it plays roles in a lot 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:22.960 of different cuisines. France, where it is not native, really 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.880 picked it up during Elt cuisine, and so it is 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.120 a key ingredient in modern classics like Breneise sauce, which 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.360 is butter and eggyulk with vinegar, shallatte and tarragon, and 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.480 the chopped herb blend Fiends herb, which is parsley, chives, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.760 sherville and tarragon. Tarragon is sometimes called referred to in 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.080 French as the King of Herbs. It's also really popular 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.240 as an ingredient in flavored vinegars and mustards and cheeses. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.960 And I did see a lot of suggestions for using 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:57.080 tarragon in pasta and potato salads and to just generally 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.840 brighten up kind of savory ingredients like mushrooms or be 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:05.560 sor asparagus. Yeah, it is furthermore processed into oil powder 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.520 and paste for use in the processed food and beverage industry. 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.840 There's a popular, popular question mark soft drink around like 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:18.120 Central Asia and former Soviet Union areas called Tarkuna or tarkun, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.880 which is flavored with it's soda flavored with tarragon, and 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:26.080 it's colored like bright green, bright green soda tarragon flavored. 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.960 And those words that I probably just mispronounced, I did 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.840 look them up but couldn't find anything really reliable. Those 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.880 are the Georgian and Russian words for tarragon, respectively. So 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.640 also one of several etymological notes I'm going to be 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:47.320 making here today. The flavor and or fragrance compound estragoal 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.760 was named for the French word for tarragon, So that 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.560 shows up in perfumes and stuff a lot and other 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.000 personal care products. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:04.200 Oh, etymology, you really came for us in this one. 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.040 Yeah. Yeah, this one was one of those cases of 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.560 those like like ancient peoples were not thinking about modern 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:13.040 podcasters at all. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.160 How could they? But I have to say I did 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.600 appreciate how I've found so many instances of people arguing 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:21.719 about it in like medieval times, and I. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.840 Was like, yes, yes, thank you. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.120 Well what about the nutrition. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.600 You're not really consuming enough to make a difference. But 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.480 tarragon does contain a lot of micronutrients that can help 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.200 your body do stuff, and it has been used in 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.600 various traditional medicines for a long time and is indeed 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:49.480 under investigation for various properties like antibacterial and anti fungal 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:54.160 effects in food preservation and for extracts in various medicines. 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:59.240 But you know saber motto, before you eat medicinal quantities 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.080 of anything should check with a doctor or other medical 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.840 professional who is not us, because bodies are complicated. Nutrition 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:05.599 is complicated. 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:12.520 There you go, our research is needed. Well, we don't 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.079 really have numbers for you, but we have a fun 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.040 on back to fun quote. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.120 I was looking up I was looking up like like 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:25.280 global production numbers for tarragon and like global market value, 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.880 and the numbers that I saw were so wildly different 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:29.720 in every source that I was like, this is not 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.360 this is not an actual number. I'm not going to 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.760 try to report this. But cultural note, James Beard is 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.840 quoted as having said, I believe that if I ever 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.080 had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:47.520 enough tarragon around. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.600 It's such a fun quote because I feel like it 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:57.439 has a couple of interpretations. One is that you like 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.680 tarragon enough. One is that flag the flavor of tarragon 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.160 is enough to distract you mm hmmm. And the other 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.000 is like I can eat the tarra god. So I 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:13.280 guess how turned to my fellow human. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.360 I think it's some of those first too. But but 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.559 I like that, Yeah, I like that you're thinking about it. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.880 I think it's that he appreciated it so much. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.080 But I'm just saying, if this were a Fay deal, 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:30.400 that would be real shaky ground. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:36.600 Yeah, yes, yeah, indeed, speaking of shaky ground, we got 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.760 to get into some of this etymology mess. 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.800 Yeah, we we do, we do, and we are we 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:45.640 we are. But first We are going to take a 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:57.800 quick break for a word from our sponsors, and we're back. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:03.080 Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay. So, historians suspect 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:07.720 that tarragon, specifically wild Russian tarragon, originated in Central and 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:12.520 Western Asia. French tarragon propagated with roots or cuttings, came 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:16.440 later a few centuries ago. It doesn't appear in any 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.559 European botanical literature until the fifteen hundred. So the general 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.319 consensus is that it's a newer herb and the scheme 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:27.160 of things, at least to Europe. That being said, new 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.640 historical discoveries happen all the time, and it could be 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:34.240 one of those things where historical descriptions and naming conventions 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.440 mix it up with something else. There are definitely multiple 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:43.080 instances in medieval text where authors complain about mistranslations leading 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.520 to mix ups with other herbs when it comes to tarragon. 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.680 We're going to talk about a few of them. It's 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.800 almost comical how many names it has gone by. 0:12:54.480 --> 0:13:03.160 Yep, yeah, yep, yep. But okay, it does seem that 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.280 tarragon started out in like Mongolia and Siberia and slowly 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.600 spread out from there through seed dispersal and human movement, 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.920 and somewhere along the line people selected for what we 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:19.720 now call the French variety, which yes, is a sterile variety. 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.239 Does not propagate from seeds. It has to be propagated 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:26.559 from rhizome cuttings. But that happened a long time before 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:32.280 it hit France. Probably, Tarragon was written up in an 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.840 Arab botanical text in the twelve hundreds as a seasoning 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.480 for vegetables and also a sleep aid. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.720 Yes, and in some Middle Eastern countries, tarragon has a 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.160 centuries long culinary history, winding up in several dishes that 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.720 are still around today. It was also used. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.680 In traditional medicines in Central Asia. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.440 Yeah, Tiragon likely arrived in Europe towards the end of 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.040 the Middle Ages via Arab traders, or perhaps through the 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.760 Mongol invasion of Europe in the twelve hundreds. 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.480 Or possibly even earlier around the eight hundreds with the 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.959 Arab movement into parts of what's now Italy, or all 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:10.880 three of these things. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.760 We don't know. No one seems to know, no one 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.000 is sure, no one is sure, all right, So in 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.120 the early days it was used medicinally in a wide 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.600 range of ways. In Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.880 perhaps specifically when it came to gastro intestinal distress, but 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.880 really in a huge range of ways. And speaking of 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:38.680 medicinal applications, the first known European mention of tarragon is 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.560 from a fifteen thirty six book about medicinal plants by 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.760 Jean Rouelle. Ruelle was a French physician, botanist and scholar, 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.400 and the book was published first in Paris. The discussion 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.880 of Tarragon is brief. The author discusses the roots and 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.680 translations and mistranslations of the name of the Arab, how 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:01.040 it grows, how it's used, and how it tastes. However, 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.480 some sources claim that Tarragon was mentioned farlier, even by 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.560 our old pal Plenty and Dioscurides. On top of that, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.760 Ruel was known for translating the work of Dioskerites, which 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:19.800 did not mention Tarragon. But then Ruell wrote an original 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.320 work based on this translation of Diaskerites and added his 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.440 own bit about Tarragon. So I think some people attribute 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:33.960 the mention of Tarragon to Diascrites, Okay, at least in 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.520 my mind, that's part of the issue. And I same 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.240 with Plenty. I think the same thing happened, But there 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.520 is a lot of historical confusion around the name of 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:48.640 tarragon what it actually referred to when people were using it. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.680 Most sources I read posit that Plenty, Diascurrites and the 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:58.640 like were referring to a different species arab Dragcunculus, which 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.600 is not I looked it up in is not the 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.640 same thing, and is also that scientific name is not 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.400 even used anymore from what I can tell. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.600 Yeah, and aram is either way a totally different genus. 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:14.440 It's separate plant, separate plants, but also called dracunculus. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.920 Yes, yes, And in fact, Plenty is often credited with 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:24.680 giving terragon or not Terragon, as the case might be, 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.920 its name and the first century CE because carrying it 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.080 on your person, according to him, provided protection from snake bites. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.240 Okay, so yes, the etymology here is whibbley wobbly, because 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.840 we're not sure exactly what plant different people were referring to. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.080 But it has been suggested that the name terragon roots 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.640 from this Greek word for dragon dragon, and that the 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.680 plant was called that because the rhizomes have a kind 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.520 of like knobby snakelike sort of appearance. Or maybe that 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:04.000 the leaves look like serpents tongues. I've read both, so 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.679 like right, like you get dracon and that goes to 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.040 an arab tarkon and then terragon. 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:10.679 Okay. 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:16.280 Some have suggested that this association with serpents is why 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.840 the plant was thought to have these anti snake medicinal 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.119 properties of one kind or another. While we're here, the 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:28.680 genus name Artemisia comes from the association of the goddess 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.879 Artemis with some dang plant in like the mugwort, wormwood, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:39.200 tarragon family or not or a different plant. 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:40.640 Yes. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.000 Again, there's like a bunch of historical confusion here. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:52.679 Yes, but all very interesting and great name landed on 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:53.240 a great name. 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.040 Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's that's like metal. That's like 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.639 really cool, very cool. 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:04.280 Okay. So after this we kind of get a little 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:10.320 bit of a cascade of other medicinal plant books sort 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:11.760 of arguing about this. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:13.800 Yeah, like they didn't have Blue Sky, so they had 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.320 to do it through publication. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.680 And that they did so. A fifteen seventy eight text 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.199 first published in fifteen fifty four but later updated, written 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.760 by Rimbert du Dunn's, a Belgian botanist and physician tauted 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.159 the benefits of tarragon, especially when it came to stomach 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.520 ailments and feminist bites. This work was significant when it 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:36.800 comes to tarragon because it was the first book in 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.280 this medico botanical space to give tarragon an entire entry 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:47.000 under the name dragon, complete with illustration. It was listed 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.440 amongst other edible plants that have a sort of bright, 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.160 spicy flavor with when fresh, so like a rocket or rugula, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:19:00.159 things like that. Do Dunes recommended it for salads. He 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.840 also mentions that it wasn't common outside of France, apart 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.320 from a few cities in Belgium where the French had 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:12.800 introduced Then in fifteen fifty eight, Italian physician Pietro Andreya 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:19.359 Mattioli described tarragon as having an extremely acrid taste. He 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.200 wrote briefly about the belief some held that tarragon didn't 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:27.320 grow naturally but instead required farmers to place linen seeds 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.560 and hollowed out onions or something like an onion and 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.159 bury them. And he ran his own experiment and it 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.520 didn't work. Dismissed the whole thing. He was like, this 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:39.480 is just not true. 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.520 That's accurate. It's not true that that's what you have 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.160 to do to grow terragon. But again, probably the type 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.639 of tarragon that they were growing even at this point 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:55.879 was French tarragon, which is propagated through the rhizome. So yes, yes, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:02.560 he was onto something with the seeds not being plantable, yeah, 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.080 step by step, yeah yeah. 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.600 Which speaking of then, John Gerard published in fifteen ninety 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.919 seven his work The Herbal Out of London, including a 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.919 translation of Doe Dune's writings about tarragon along with his 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.840 own notes around medicinal properties and the name in other languages. 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.040 He also describes how in Greek myth, the fisherman Glaucus 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:29.440 became immortal after eating tarragon. However, it seems he mistranslated 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.560 a word for tarragon, so there's like, there's a plant 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.520 you eat and it gives you this immortality, and he 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.320 thought it was tarragon, but I think the word he 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:44.639 mistranslated was actually a descriptor for the plant, not actually 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:46.480 the plant. 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:47.240 Yeah. 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.760 So anyway, that kind of got dismissed, and I believe 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.680 Doe Dunes came out with another edition of his book 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.679 and was like, I don't know where your sources are 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:04.280 but that's not correct. It really was a whole back 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.560 and forth. There were a couple more after this, but 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.640 then it kind of settled down for a minute. English 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:16.600 gardens were growing at Tarragon by the sixteenth century. Europeans 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.879 brought tarragon over with them to the America's beginning in 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.600 the sixteen hundreds, but it seemed to remain pretty niche 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.320 at first, at least in the US. 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:31.280 But wild tarragon did spread in North America, or was 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:37.000 possibly already here. A few ethnobotanies list tarragon as a 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.640 traditional medicine for peoples like the Chippewa and the Chequetnic. 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:48.440 So yes, ooh and then okay. By the eighteenth and 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:52.400 nineteenth century, Europe had generally embraced tarragon as a spice, 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.960 but none more so than France. They added it to 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.840 a whole variety of things, including biernet sauce, a devoration 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:04.760 of the French mother sauce holland Dais, which, by the way, 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:06.280 we're just gonna have to do a whole episode on 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:07.920 these sauces. 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:09.879 On the sauce as we are. Yeah, I've been putting 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.199 that off because of all of the heck in French 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.840 that I am going to mispronounce. 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.800 That is fair. That is fair. U. Well, the first 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:23.520 recipe for beernais appeared in eighteen thirty six, or that's 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:29.639 the general consensus. Future episode. Yeah, august Escoffier's landmark nineteen 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:34.360 oh three work Leaguide Colinaire mentioned to Tarragon over sixty times. 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:35.160 All right. 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.280 He was also the first to define France's fiene herbs 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:42.000 in nineteen oh three, which is a seasoning of equal 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.399 parts Parsley, Chives, Sherville and Tarragon. So yeah, it was 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:50.840 a big part of that, like new classic French cuisine, 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:51.680 Hawk cuisine. 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.720 Yeah, huge, it was everywhere in there. 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:59.919 Yeah. Yeah, but that's future as will deal with that 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:02.600 because I tried to fit it all into this episode 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:05.560 and I was like, no, we can do all episode 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:07.240 just on Tarra God and Friends. 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:15.280 Yeah, during that specific time period. Yes. Meanwhile, that Tarragon 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:18.920 soda pop that I mentioned was invented in eighteen eighty 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:22.359 seven by this Georgian pharmacist by the name of U. 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.760 I'm so sorry if I mess this up a metrofun Leginze, 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:31.359 I think I'm not sure. I'm so sorry. Yeah, But 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:33.320 he was working with a bunch of different herbs and 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:37.240 fruits and spices to make syrups for soft drinks. The 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:40.919 tarragon one did get popular throughout the USSR in the 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.119 nineteen eighties when, which is when it saw mass production 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:48.960 and is still available and is always just absolutely emerald. 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:56.280 Green listeners right in. Yeah, yeah, okay, stepfing back a bit. 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:01.160 After returning to the US from Europe, famous Francophile Thomas Jefferson, 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:06.320 that guy ran into trouble getting his hands on tarragon, 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:09.159 which had been readily available while he was in France, 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.639 and Jefferson had been particularly taken with tarragon mustard, so 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:16.520 he really wanted to make this. He went on this 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:19.360 whole quest to get seeds to grow his own tarragon, 0:24:19.480 --> 0:24:23.240 but he ran into dead ends at every turn. And yeah, 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:26.680 part of the problem was that tarragon grown for culinary 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:31.000 purposes was the French variety propagated using root division or cutting. 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.160 So yeah, he just wasn't having it. Wasn't going to work. Yeah, 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:37.760 wasn't going to work. So he sent this message, this 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:43.440 really lamenting message about his tarragon loves to horticulturists Bernard 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:49.439 McMahon in eighteen o six and McMahon sent him some 0:24:49.600 --> 0:24:51.680 roots to grow his own. I think a month later 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:52.639 was like here You're. 0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:53.560 Like, here you go, bud. 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:59.600 Yeah, just good luck. But still it was not smooth sailing. 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:03.360 Over several years in the early eighteen hundreds, Jefferson struggled 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:07.679 to cultivate tarragon at Monticello, where he lived. Based on 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:11.880 the sources I read, he never really succeeded, but he 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:15.600 did turn more people onto tarragon in the United States. 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:19.480 It's honestly, probably too wet around Monticello. 0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:22.199 Yeah, that's it. 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:26.399 Wants it to be a little bit drier. But or 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:28.440 I don't know, maybe it was karma for him being 0:25:28.440 --> 0:25:29.600 a terrible heck in person. 0:25:31.800 --> 0:25:35.040 There could be any number of things. Yeah, he also 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:38.800 moved it a lot. I think he was I couldn't tell, 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:40.840 but it sounded like he was pretty impatient. He really 0:25:40.880 --> 0:25:47.880 wanted this mustard, which I'm sure wasn't helping with the crow. Yeah. Yes, 0:25:47.960 --> 0:25:52.320 But in either gate, whatever happens. Starting in the eighteen hundreds, 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:57.520