Thanksgiving Herbs

Want your Thanksgiving dinner to taste like the First Harvest feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag? According to the Plimoth Patuxet Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, here are some of the herbs both parties may have supplied for the harvest feast:

From the Pilgrims:
Sage, which lends its citrusy flavor to fowl and various stuffing's. Has become a traditional ingredient in modern stuffing's.
Parsley lends color and texture to dishes as well as serving as a palate cleanser and breath freshener.
Thyme, used exclusively with white meat and game birds to enhance flavor. Nowadays, we have varieties such as pineapple and lemon thyme, which pair nicely with pork.
Marjoram, a sweeter-tasting cousin of oregano, for complementing stews and soups, helping to bring out individual flavors in a mixed entree such as Irish stew or pot roast.
Lavender, brought by the colonists from England, gives an aromatic hand to teas, custards, breads, and cakes.

From the Wampanoag:
Birch Bark and Sassafras, brewed as a refreshing beverage. We know these flavors today in natural birch beer soda and natural root beer soda. And in sassafras soda, if you can find it!
Juniper berries, although not technically an herb, are included here as it was a main seasoning in the Wampanoag wild game stew called sobaheg, and are used in cooking wild game in general. They give an “evergreen” taste to meats like rabbit, wild turkey, and quail.
Mint, a bright and refreshing herb to “punch up” lamb, veal, and various game meat. Excellent brewed into black tea or as an herbal tea. Like parsley, mint was also chewed as a breath freshener, and grows prolifically - so it was easy to find!

Some of these First Harvest herbs may be ones you already use at Thanksgiving, and some may be fun to experiment with for an authentic flavor in various dishes listed above. But it’s interesting to note that tastes, considering herbs, have not truly changed all that much since then. Happy Thanksgiving!