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Rue (Ruta graveolens L.)

Synonyms

pharmaceutical Herba Rutae

Albanian Rucë

Amharic ጤነ አዳም

Taena Adam (Ruta chalepensis)

Arabic فيجن, سذاب

فَيْجَن, سَذَاب

Fayjan, Sadab

Aramaic ܦܓܢ, ܣܕܒ, ܒܫܫ

Peggan, Sadab, Basshash

Azeri Ətirli sədo

Әтирли сәдо

Basque Bortusai, Boskoitz, Erruda, Moskatxa

Breton Ruzh

Bulgarian Седефче

Sedefche

Catalan Ruda

Chinese
(Cantonese) 臭草 [chau chóu], 荊芥七 [gìng gaai chāt], 小香草 [síu hēung chóu], 芸香 [wàhn hēung], 臭艾 [chau ngaai]

Chau chou, Ging gaai chat, Siu heung chou, Wahn heung

Chinese
(Mandarin) 臭草 [chòu cǎo], 荊芥七 [jīng jiè qī], 小香草 [xiǎo xiāng cǎo], 芸香 [yún xiāng], 臭艾 [chòu ài]

Chou cao, Chow-cho, Jing jie qi, Xiao xiang cao, Yun xiang, Chou ai

Coptic ⲕⲁⲛⲟⲡ, ⲕⲉϥⲣⲓⲟⲥ, ⲙ̅ⲧ̅ⲟ̅ⲧ̅ϥ̅

Kanop, Kefrios, Emtotf

Croatian Ruta, Rutvica

Czech Routa, Routa vonná

Danish Rude

Dutch Wijnruit

English Garden rue, Herb of Grace

Estonian Ruud, Aedruud

Farsi سداب

Sadab

Finnish Ruuta, Tuoksuruuta

French Rue odorante, Herbe de grâce, Péganium

Gaelic Rugh, Rù, Ruigh

Galician Ruda

Georgian ტეგანი

T’igani, Tigani

German Raute, Weinraute, Gartenraute, Weinkraut

Greek Απήγανος

Apiganos

Greek (Old) Πήγανον, Ῥυτή

Peganon, Rhyte

Gujarati Satapa

Hebrew פיגם, רוטה

רוּטָה, פֵּיגָם

Pegam, Ruta

Hindi सिताब

Satari, Sitab

Hungarian Ruta, Kerti ruta

Icelandic Rúturunni

Italian Ruta

Japanese ルー, ヘンルーダ

Henruda, Ru

Kannada Sadabu

Korean 루, 루타

Ru, Ruta

Latin Baca rutæ, Ruta

Latvian Smaržīgā rūta

Lithuanian Žalioji rūta

Malay Daun aroda

Malayalam അരൂത

Arootha, Nagathali, Satap

Maltese Fejġel (R. chalepensis)

Marathi Satapa

Norwegian Vinrute

Oriya ରୁଟା

Maruya, Ruta

Pahlavi Sudab

Polish Ruta zwyczajna

Portuguese Arruda

Romanian Rută, Rută de grădină, Virnanț (Virnanţ)

Russian Рута душистая

Ruta dushistaya

Sanskrit Sadapaha, Suvarchala

Serbian Рута, Седеф, Рутвица

Ruta, Sedef, Rutvica

Sinhala අරුද

Aruda

Slovak Ruta voňavá

Slovenian Vinska rutica

Spanish Ruda

Swedish Vinruta

Tamil அரூத, அருவதா

Aruda (??), Aruvada

Telugu సదాప, సదాపచెట్టు, సదాపాకు

Aruda, Sadapa, Sadapachettu, Sadapaku

Thai อีหรุด, รู

Irut, Ru

Turkish Sedef otu, Sazab, Sezab

Ukrainian Рута запашна, Садова рута

Ruta zapashna, Sadova ruta

Urdu سداب

Sadab, Sudah

Vietnamese Cửu lý hương

Cuu ly huong

Yiddish רוטע, װײַנרוטע

Rute, Vaynrute

Ruta graveolens: Garden rue unripe fruits

Ripening fruits of rue

Ruta graveolens: Rue leaf

Rue leaf

Ruta graveolens: Dried rue capsules

Dried rue fruits

Used plant part

Fresh leaves; if not available, dried leaves are a poor substitute. The fruits of rue are rarely used in the kitchen.

Plant family

Rutaceae (citrus family).

Sensory quality

Rue’s fragrance is strong, characteristically aromatic and sweet; it cannot be compared with any other spice. The taste is rather bitter, even more so when dried. Rue fruits (berries) taste similar, but stronger and somewhat hot.

Ruta graveolens: Garden rue unripe fruits

Ripening fruits of rue

Main constituents

Rue contains max. 1% of an essential oil, whose main components are 2-hendecanone (2-undecanone, methylnonylketone, up to 60%) and 2-nonanone (methylheptylketone) plus several more ketones and corresponding secondary alcohols. Methyl anthranilate and anethole glycol are also reported; terpenoids are represented mainly by limonene, α-pinene, cuminaldehyde and l,8-cineol.

Responsible for the bitter taste is rutin (7 to 8% in the dried leaves), a polyphenolic flavonolone glycoside containing the disaccharid rutinose as sugar component. Rutin is also found in capers, water pepper and orange peel.

Ruta graveolens: Close-up to rue flowers

Close-up to rue flowers

Ruta graveolens: Rue (flower)

Rue flowers

Origin

The origin of rue probably lies in the Mediterranean or Western Asia.

Etymology

Most Western European languages have similar names for rue: English and French rue, Dutch ruit and German Raute all go back to Latin ruta, which itself was borrowed from Greek rhyte [ῥυτή]. The ultimate origin of the word is not known.

Quite interestingly, several names of rue have chance homonyms: English rue may also mean remorse, French rue almost always means street and German Raute is the mathematical term for rhomb, equilateral parallelogram. Moreover, the German noun Rute whip is also unrelated.

Ruta graveolens: Flowering garden rue

Flowering rue

www.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de

Ruta graveolens: Flowering rue shrub

Flowering rue

In the New Testament (see pomegranate about biblical herbs and spices), rue is mentioned as peganon [πήγανον], a name still used in Modern Greek as apiganos [απήγανος]. There have been attempts to link that name with Greek pegos [πηγός] strong and thus to a Proto-Indo–European root PEH2Ḱ strengthen (cf. fix), but the semantic connection is unclear at best. Related plant names are French péganium, Hebrew pegam [פיגם], Aramaic pegana [ܦܓܢܐ], and Arabic al-fayjan [الفيجن], perhaps also Georgian t’igani [ტეგანი].

In modern botanical taxonomy, the term Peganum denotes a genus from a remotely related family Zygophyllaceae, order Sapindales. The best known member is Syrian Rue, Peganum harmala, a hallucinogenic plant that is occasionally confused with rue or in particular Aleppo Rue (see also southernwood for another plant sometimes confused with rue).

Names of rue in many tongues from Western Asia (Turkish sedefotu, Kurdish sudab [سوداب]) through Central Asia (Farsi sadab [سداب]) to Southern India (Telugu sadapa [సదాప]) derive from Middle Persian sudab. Folk etymology has linked the Turkish name to sedef mother of pearl, alluding to the bluish hue of the leaves of that plant. Bulgarian sedefche [седефче] is a borrowing from Turkish.

The Latin species name, which rue shares with several other aromatic plants like celery or dill, means strongly smelling: Latin gravis heavy and olens participle present of olere smell.

Selected Links

Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Weinraute (rezkonv.de via archive.org) Nature One Health: Rue Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Weinraute (biozac.de) chemikalienlexikon.de: Methylnonylketon Poisonous Plants of North Carolina: Rue Recipe and Discussion: Moretum (Roman cheese and herb paste) (www.godecookery.com) Poem by Vergilius Moretum, English Translation (virgil.org) Bibliotheca Augustana: Moretum (www.fh-augsburg.de) The Banquet of Jupiter, including moretum recipe (beastbay.com via archive.org)

Ruta graveolens: Garden rue, flowering plant

Garden rue, flowering plant

Ruta graveolens: Rue in flower

Rue in flower Rue belongs to those culinary herbs whose usage in the kitchen is checked by their inherent bitterness; see also zedoary on this topic. Rue was a very common spice in ancient Rome (see silphion on ancient Roman cuisine), often being used for country-style food like moretum, a spicy paste of fresh garlic, hard cheese and herbs (coriander, celery, rue); nevertheless, its name was often used metonymically for bitterness, especially in poetry. During the last 2000 years, this ambivalent position gave way to an almost universal rejection in our days.

Apart from occasional use in Italy, rue’s popularity is greatest in Ethiopia. Fresh rue leaves are sometimes used as a coffee flavourant (remember that coffee is probably native to Ethiopia!), and rue is also sometimes mentioned as a components in the national spice mix, berbere [በርበሬ] (see long pepper). Ethiopian cuisine is unique in using not only rue leaves, but also the dried fruits (rue berries) with their more intensive, slightly pungent flavour that is well preserved on drying.

To cook with rue is usually considered old-fashioned, which is probably because half a century ago, rue was significantly more popular than today so that it is seen a leftover from past times; second, older people frequently develop a positive attitude towards bitter taste and tend to use bitter herbs and spices more liberally. And yet, rue is definitely worth a try; meat, eggs and cheese all can profit from this nearly unknown spice, provided care is taken not to overdose. The bitter taste is reduced by acids; thus, a leaf or rue may be used to flavour pickled vegetables, make a salad more interesting or add a very personal touch to home-made herbal vinegar (see dill).

Because of its general affinity to acidic food, rue goes well with spicy Italian tomato sauces containing olives and capers (together with marjoram, basil and lovage).

Ruta chalepensis: Southern European Rue, Aleppo rue

Fringed rue, Ruta chalepensis, from the Mediterranean

Ruta chalepensis: Aleppo Rue

Aleppo rue, Ruta chalepensis

If a cook wants rue flavour without bitterness, he might make use of the fact that rue leaves excrete the essential oil much more quickly than the bitter rutin (very similar to tea leaves). Thus, the fresh leaves may be soaked in a slightly boiling sauce or other liquid for a short time (typically, one minute) and discarded afterwards. By this a procedure, a maximum of flavour at a minimum of bitterness is achieved. See also parsley on the topics of herb bundles (bouquet garni).

Like many other bitter spices (e. g., zedoary), rue is popular for flavouring liquors. Besides stimulating the appetite, bitter liquors have some tonic, stomachic and even bile-stimulating properties, all of which are advantageous after a rich feast. One of the most common liquors containing rue is grappa con ruta, an Italian draff brandy flavoured with a small branch of rue per bottle. For this, the related Fringed Rue (Aleppo rue, R. chalepensis) is usually preferred.

Ruta chalepensis: Aleppo Rue

Aleppo rue, Ruta chalepensis

Rue must not be confused with southernwood, another bitter herb with a stronger, more lemon-like fragrance. Both plants are today of small importance culinarily, and both are considered potentially poisonous, although their toxicity may be neglected in amounts suitable for cooking (their bitter taste will, for the most part, make accidental poisoning impossible).

Extreme overdoses of the pure essential oil of rue have even been reported to cause abortus, and the plant was even called herbe à la belle fille Herb of fair maidens in French due to its abortive action. Furthermore, severe poisonings have resulted from uncontrolled medical use of the root. Some North American sources treat rue as a deadly poison, which I find quite ridiculously exaggerated (unless the plant develops a different spectrum of secondary metabolites in Europe and in America).

Table of Contents
Alphabetical Index (index by names)
Botanical Index (index by plant families)
Geographical Index (index by country of origin)
Morphological Index (index by plant part)
Spice Mixture Index
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