Oregano. Schepkinsky forest, Rostov-on-Don.

Oregano is one of the most common herbs in the south of Russia and the Caucasus. Whether fresh or dried, oregano is most often used as a seasoning: add it to tea blends or make it into syrup.

Herbal syrup: boil about 300 grams of herbs in one cup of water for 15 minutes. Herbs do not need to be destemmed. After cooking, allow the mixture to cool and let sit for several hours, then press through a sieve. Mix the resulting infusion with a half kilogram of sugar and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. This recipe works with oregano, any type of mint, lemon balm, thyme, and more. Herbal syrup can be used as a sweet topping or for canning wild fruits and berries.

Oregano syrup.

Nettle tortilla with oregano syrup and mulberry marmalade. Presentation of Feral Forage project in the Street Art Museum, Saint-Petersburg. Photo by the Street Art Museum.

Forest mint. Gelendzhik.

Lemon balm. Gelendzhik.

Field mint. Gelendzhik.

Forest mint. Maslovskoye swamp, Dmitrovskoye, Moscow oblast.

Thyme. Mtatsminda, Tbilisi.

Distillate with thyme and sage. Presentation of Feral Forage project in the Untitled Gallery, Tbilisi. Photo by Anna Kacheishvili.

This work was commissioned for the exhibition “I don’t know whether the Earth is spinning or not...”, curated by Francesca Altamura and Lizaveta Matveeva for the VII Moscow International Biennale for Young Art.