Thyme
Thymus vulgaris
A low woody perennial. Culinary thyme is thymol-scented; lemon thyme and creeping lawn thymes are different kitchen values. Dries well. A pinch in a stew is food; oil is not food.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
A low woody perennial. Culinary thyme is thymol-scented; lemon thyme and creeping lawn thymes are different kitchen values. Dries well. A pinch in a stew is food; oil is not food.
From the existing encyclopedia
Thyme is a dried botanical traded as cut leaf, flower, seed, or root for tea and seasoning. Thyme leaf holds up in long braises and roasted poultry; strip stems before serving. Rehydrate dried forms in warm water before adding to long braises for even texture. Works alongside green tea or ginger in everyday beverage rotation. When substituting dried Thyme for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- leaves
- tender stems
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 5–8 well-drained
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Lean, sharp drainage
- Planting. Do not bury stems. Replace woody plants every few years from cuttings.
- Harvest. Shear before or at early bloom.
Processing, drying, storage
- Drying. Excellent dried. Strip tiny leaves from woody stems. See also Make → Drying.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Bouquet garni, beans, roast chicken, mushrooms
Nutrition and compounds
- Plant compounds. thymol. Presence is not a dose, a cure, or a reason to buy a capsule.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.