All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Has this happened to you? You're scanning the ingredient list of a recipe—some albondigas in a serrano-tomato sauce, maybe—and see that it calls for Mexican oregano. Soon, you're scanning your grocery store's aisles for the elusive herb. It's nowhere to be found. Do you ditch the recipe?
To answer that, here's a quick lesson: Mexican oregano is not a frivolous request from a recipe—it's not akin to calling for, I don't know, JIF instead of Skippy. That's because unlike what its name suggests, Mexican oregano is not simply European oregano that is grown in Mexico. In fact, it may be from a different family of plants altogether. Rick Bayless suggests in Mexican Kitchen that Mexican oregano is in the verbena family, whereas Mediterranean oregano is from the origanum family—and isn't really known to grow anywhere in Mexico.
In other words, Mexican oregano is completely different from what we consider "regular" oregano, a fact that would become obvious if you tasted the two side-by-side. Where Mediterranean oregano is sweet, with anise notes, Mexican oregano is grassy, with citrus notes.
But that doesn't necessarily mean you can't make those albondigas. You can replace the herb spoonful-to-spoonful with another dried herb (Mexican oregano is always dried). Try dried marjoram (also from the origanum family, but similar to Mexican oregano in its citrusy, floral ways) or dried verbena. Or go ahead and use dried Mediterranean oregano—just use a little less. In most recipes, the result will be totally okay—and some recipes, like the beans below, will be too drunk to notice.
