I'm making a soup: calls for crushed thyme. All I have is thyme leaves. Sent husband to store, says he couldn't find any "crushed" thyme. What do I do??
to update: yes, they are dried thyme leaves, in a bottle, not fresh. I will just crush this up and use not as much... just to be safe. I'm nervous to ruin the soup! I was just worried they were like rosemary sprigs that you couldn't eat, like little twigs. I don't know much about thyme or rosemary, so I usually avoid recipes with it. I don't get the difference between the leaves, the sprigs, crushed, etc. confuses me!!!
Do you have dried thyme leaves? I'd just crumble them really, really well with my fingers. If you have fresh thyme... then I don't know ;)
Crushed thyme will look like small dry pieces of leaves. It is not the same as ground thyme which would look like powder. So if you have dried thyme leaves, that's crushed. The recipe is worded that way so you don't use thyme powder, which would require a different measurement, since the powder would be more concentrated.
EDITED: by the way, if it's not too late, add the thyme near the end of the cooking. It's fragrance and flavor can get lost if it's cooked too long.
Take your thyme and crush it?
If your thyme fresh? In general, 1 teaspoon dried herb = 1 tablespoon fresh herbs. You could use the fresh thyme as a sub. If your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon crushed time, just use I tablespoon fresh, etc. If it's dried leaves, just crush them.
P.S. If the thyme is dried sprigs, ONLY use the leaves, not the stems!!!
Hi P.-
I am thinking maybe the recipe is calling for 'fresh thyme leaves'...crushed...or 'mortared and pestalled (sp?)'...
I would use a little less of what the recipe calls for with the dried thyme...and just 'crumble' it thru your fingers into the recipe!!
Best Luck!!
michele/cat
I don't think it's a problem just so you have the flavor.
All you need to do is crush the thyme leaves with your fingers.
Have fun!
I have a thyme plant, we just chop the leaves up really well. If you have the dried thyme, then crumble the leaves.
We ust got some crushed thyme at Kroger last week. It's all they had.
Crush your thyme leaves, it's the same thing.
