We were fascinated by our first encounter with Za’atar (also spelled Zahtar, Satar, Zahatar, and Zatr). The story we consistently found was blend of herbs and spices have a unique property of stimulating the brain, providing alertness, and helping memory. That truly got our attention, but how true can this be? We found no scientific research, just the repeated tale found in books on cultural cuisine and the Internet. As we are fortunate to be surrounded by a diverse international community, we took the opportunity to talk to some friends and acquaintances from Lebanon with authoritative cultural knowledge. In their relating the history and story of Za’atar, they each independently and enthusiastically related to us that Za’atar has been a staple in their life, their children’s lives, as well as their grandkids. They would have Za’atar every morning with olive oil, Feta cheese, onion and pita; they gave their kids to improve memory and alertness before sending them off to school. Granted, this could also just be a case of “send your kids to school well fed”, but the interesting story does repeating. Again, this is clearly not a scientific research, but it does represent an oral history of their culture. Lebanese Za’atar was the first recipe we introduced to our World Blends line. Since then, we have collected recipes from Jordan, Syria, Israel, Turkey, and North Africa. Not surprisingly, each recipe claims to be the best! Za’atar is primarily herbs and sesame; while all variations include core ingredients like thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, and sumac berries, proportions differ. Each recipe also has signature additions to the core; Lebanese Za’atar adds orange zest, Syrian Za’atar adds cumin and paprika, North African Za’atar adds marjoram, Jordanian Za’atar adds spearmint, while Israeli Za’atar adds dill weed and garlic.

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