How to grow & use French Thyme for cooking

Ideal for stews, soups, meat and fish dishes.

French thyme will have a very strong thyme flavour.

Originally from southern Europe and the Mediterranean region it is easy to grow at home.

This article will cover:

How to grow French thyme at home
How to prepare French thyme for cooking
Example French thyme recipes

Both the plants & seeds can be ordered online – Available from Amazon

1. – How to grow French thyme at home

Background

This is a great herb to grow at home, and very easy to do.

It is ideal for stews, soups and with meat and fish recipes.
Days from seed to harvest – about 70 to 90 (2 to 3 months)
About 15 to 30 cm high

There are 2 methods you can use:

1a – Grow French Thyme using soil

The plants are very easy to grow from seed,

It is best suited to well drained soil and full sun.

Which is why it’s ideal for growing either using soil or hydroponics on a balcony (if it’s sunny) or using a kitchen hydroponic or aquaponic kit with back up lighting.

Sow the seeds thinly into moist warm soil
Cover slightly – will germinate 7 to 21 days
Thin to 30 cm between plants

1b – Using Hydroponics or Aquaponics

Hydroponics is where you grow it in an automated system, where the roots grow straight in water.

For example like the unit pictured:

Ideal for hydroponics or aquaponics
Will take about 5 to 7 weeks before harvesting
You can speed this up by planting cuttings

More info on the kitchen hydroponic unit

2. – How to prepare French thyme for cooking

Thyme is very simple to prepare as an ingredient:

Wash the thyme before using.
Then either use the whole sprig or simply remove leaves and bin the stalk.
If you want to strip the leaves, hold a stalk at the top and run your thumb and forefinger along the stalk from top to bottom

3. – Example French Thyme recipes

French or common thyme is probably the type you will have used in cooking. The leaves have a strong aroma and are useful in stews, soups and with meat and fish dishes.

Because it’s such a powerful herb is it great when combined with other herbs like garlic, oregano, rosemary, etc.

Typical Recipes are

In addition further down are our own most popular French thyme recipes.