Daphnis and Chloe Guide: Greek Herbs From Small Farms

Daphnis and Chloe is a Greek herb and spice company that began in a small workshop in Athens in 2013. Its founders travel across Greece looking for heirloom herb varieties, buy from small farms that harvest by hand, and then sort and pack the herbs at the company's own studio in Athens. This guide covers how the company works, where each herb and seed in its range comes from, and when each one goes into the pot, from Cretan sage and marjoram to fennel seed from Evia and heirloom sesame from Evros.

A few terms first. An herb here means the dried leaves or flowers of an aromatic plant, used to flavor food. A seed spice is the dried seed of such a plant, like fennel or sesame. An heirloom variety is an old plant type that farmers have kept going by saving its seed from one generation to the next, rather than a modern commercial breed. Terroir (say "tair-WAHR") is a French word for the way a place, its soil, climate and slope, shapes the flavor of what grows there. Destemming means pulling the leaves and flowers off the woody stems, so that only the fragrant parts end up in the jar. An organic farm grows its crops without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.

A workshop in Athens

The company describes itself as a culinary herb and spice company for cooks looking for Mediterranean ingredients of the finest quality. Its own account of the work is short and specific. The founders went looking for heirloom varieties across Greece, favoring places where herbs grow spontaneously, with as little human intervention as possible, because they believe terroir has a strong effect on aroma and flavor. The account includes a herb-hunting trip on Tinos, an island in the Cyclades.

The farmers it buys from use traditional methods and harvest entirely by hand. That yields less than industrial farming, and the company says it accepts the trade because the old ways are better for the planet and for the integrity of the herb. Many of those farmers, it says, have worked with it since the beginning. It limits what it sells to what can feasibly be farmed each year, and it names its goals as consistency, preservation and resilience rather than endless growth.

Close to how they grow in the wild

The company's answers to common questions fill in the rest. It sources from small farms chosen for their terroir, and much of the cultivation uses no machinery, which it says keeps the herbs as close to how they would be found in the wild as possible. Most of the herbs come from organic farms, and the company says it does not accept herbs treated with pesticides, calling that a non-negotiable standard. It describes rigorous batch testing, and its standards run from lab testing to temperature-controlled storage.

Once the herbs reach Athens, they are processed, sorted and packed at the studio, by the company's own words always passing only through human hands; tasks it cannot do itself go to a small network of local businesses. At home, a dried herb is judged by its smell: the guide to whether spices expire tells cooks to rub a pinch hard in the palm, then smell it.

The range, jar by jar

Unique Greek Sage, from Crete

Greek sage is its own species, with the Latin name Salvia fruticosa. Kew's Plants of the World Online, the botanical database of the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, records it as a shrub native to the central and eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Crete and the East Aegean islands. The maker says it grows wild across the Aegean islands, has smaller, thicker leaves than the typical European sage with a more pronounced taste and aroma, and tends to grow more intense in dry, arid soil. Its jar comes from an organic farm in Crete, where the herbs are dried naturally and processed by hand.

How to cook with it: the maker pairs it with poultry, game (wild meats such as rabbit or venison) and pork roasts, and with herbed butter. Add a few leaves while the dish cooks and take them out before serving, or grind a few leaves with coarse salt and black pepper to make a finishing seasoning. The product page adds that it works even in tiny amounts. Start with less than a recipe written for garden sage asks (shop Daphnis and Chloe Greek Sage).

Sweet Marjoram, from eastern Crete

Marjoram is a close relative of oregano, and the maker notes that the two are often used in each other's place. The maker's marjoram is hand-harvested on a farm in eastern Crete at the beginning of summer. The product page describes it as zesty and surprisingly floral, and says the whole leaves and petals are separated from the stems in an elaborate destemming process, so the supplier can produce only a small amount of that quality each year. It also notes that marjoram is one of the herbs that best keeps its full flavor and aroma after drying.

How to cook with it: the maker suggests it with sweet vegetables such as carrots, in tomato sauce, on hummus, over a salad of steamed beets and in dressings made from several herbs. In a pot of lentil soup, add a small pinch midway through cooking. It also makes a tea: one teaspoon steeped in 95°C water, covered, for five minutes (shop Daphnis and Chloe Sweet Marjoram).

Selected Bay Leaves

Bay leaves come from the bay laurel, a tree the maker describes as native to the southern Mediterranean and long a staple of cooking there. Daphnis and Chloe harvests its leaves by hand, only from mature trees, at the peak of their potency, and dries them naturally, which the maker says keeps the light notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.

How to cook with them: bay gives a balsamic (resinous and faintly sweet), slightly spicy flavor to soups, stews and marinades, and the maker names chickpeas and lentils as natural partners. The flavor is strong, so one leaf is enough for a stew that serves four to six. Take the leaf out before serving; in the maker's words, this allows "just the essence to remain" (shop Daphnis and Chloe Bay Leaves).

Fragrant Fennel Seeds, from Evia

Evia is the second-largest island in Greece, according to the Greek National Tourism Organisation, and the product page says it has a long tradition of growing a sweet, balanced fennel. The seeds come from a second-generation fennel farmer who tends his family's fields himself. The maker describes them as sweet and intensely aromatic, and notes that fennel's quality depends heavily on climate and place.

How to cook with them: the maker says they work in sweet and savory dishes alike, and that their licorice-like fragrance adds depth to sauces. Crush them in a mortar and pestle with chili, pepper or almonds; the almond and fennel mix suits cookies. The maker says the chili and pepper blends suit pork and oily fish. The flavor is strong: if a recipe calls for one teaspoon, the maker says half a teaspoon will do. For a tea, crush a teaspoon gently to release the oils, then steep in 95°C water, covered, for five minutes (shop Daphnis and Chloe Fennel Seeds).

Evros Sesame Seeds

The maker says the Evros region of Greece has been known for growing sesame since 300 BC. Its seeds come from an heirloom variety grown there since ancient times and passed from one generation to the next, grown organically and without machines. The harvest is timed by hand: farmers pull up the plants while the seed pods are still unripe and dry them outdoors in bundles. Once ripe, the pods split open at the slightest touch, and the seeds are collected by hand, then washed and dried. Handling by hand keeps the seeds from being bruised, according to the product page.

The seeds are sold raw and unhulled, which means they still have their thin outer seed coat, called the hull. The maker describes them as nutty and earthy, a flavor that grows when they are heated. How to cook with them: toast them in a dry pan over medium heat for three to four minutes, stirring constantly so they do not burn, then scatter them on bread, salads or cookies. The guide to toasting spices explains why the nose, not the color, tells when they are done. The maker's own recipe page rolls tahini cookies in them, and the tahini sauce recipe shows what sesame becomes once it is ground (shop Daphnis and Chloe Evros Sesame).

Wild Thyme Flowers, and two more

The maker's thyme is Thymus capitatus, a variety common along Greece's rocky coastlines; Kew lists the plant today as Thymbra capitata, a low shrub native around the Mediterranean, with Thymus capitatus as an older name for the same species. The harvesters select the flower buds one by one. The maker describes the flavor as floral and tingling, and suggests crushing two or three blossoms per portion between the fingers just before use, to wake the aroma. It names chicken brines (salted water that meat soaks in before cooking), lamb marinades and pickled vegetables as uses, and its own lemony roast potatoes use five crushed blossoms with garlic, lemon and olive oil (shop Daphnis and Chloe Wild Thyme Flowers).

The range also includes hand-harvested Spearmint Leaves, which the product page suggests for teas, cocktails and salads (shop Daphnis and Chloe Spearmint), and dried Damascena Rose Petals from Damask roses, for desserts, teas and garnish (shop Daphnis and Chloe Rose Petals).

When each one goes in

Read side by side, the maker's own notes sort the range by timing. Some herbs go in early and come out, some go in partway, some go on at the end, and the seeds want heat before they go anywhere.

Herb or seed Where it comes from When it goes in Uses the maker names
Bay leaves Mature trees, hand-harvested Start of cooking; remove before serving Soups, stews, marinades, chickpeas, lentils
Greek sage Organic farm, Crete During cooking, then removed; or ground with salt to finish Poultry, game, pork roasts, herbed butter
Sweet marjoram Farm in eastern Crete Midway through cooking, or raw on top Lentil soup, tomato sauce, carrots, hummus, beet salad
Wild thyme flowers Greece's rocky coasts Crushed just before use, into a brine or marinade Chicken brine, lamb marinade, roast potatoes, pickles
Fennel seeds Family farm, Evia Crushed in a mortar into spice mixes, or added to sauces Pork, oily fish, sauces, almond cookies
Evros sesame Heirloom variety, Evros Toasted first, then scattered at the end Bread, salads, cookies

A note for Colorado kitchens

The maker's marjoram and fennel teas both call for water at 95°C, which is about 203°F, just under a full boil at sea level. Colorado State University Extension puts the boiling point of water at 203°F at 5,000 feet, against 212°F at sea level. So in a kitchen at 5,000 feet, water at a rolling boil is already at the temperature the maker asks for, with no wait for it to cool.

For how these jars sit among other single-origin spices, see the single-origin spices guide and the Burlap & Barrel guide.

A map in a spice drawer

Each herb in this range comes with a place: an organic farm in Crete, a family fennel field on Evia, an heirloom sesame grown in Evros since ancient times. That is the company's argument in miniature. If terroir shapes aroma, as it believes, then where a herb grew and who picked it are part of its flavor, and a jar that names both tells the cook something its name alone cannot. Explore the Daphnis and Chloe collection.

The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com.

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