horehound
spice or herb / spice-horehound
ホアハウンド / Marrubium vulgare
Horehound is a candidate bitter plant referring to the dried flowering aerial parts of white horehound. Identification in a medicinal assessment is not a recommendation for food use.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Horehound (Marrubium vulgare, white horehound) refers to the dried flowering aerial parts. An EMA (European Medicines Agency) assessment describes them as bitter and identifies marrubiin, a furan-type labdane diterpene, as contributing to that bitterness.
One review states "M. vulgare has a bitter value of 3.0, acting as the bitter gustative receptores (on the base of the tongue) stimulator". Another review says "Marrubiin is a widely known diterpenoid lactone that constitutes the bitter principle of the horehound and many other medicinal plants", positioning marrubiin as a principal bitter constituent of horehound.
Both descriptions come from reviews synthesizing earlier literature, and neither the basis for calculating the bitter value of 3.0 nor the reference scale can be identified from the review alone. The EMA assessment concerns specifications for medicinal plant material, not a direct sensory or reconstitution test.
The same review gives marrubiin, a constituent implicated in the bitterness of the dried flowering aerial parts, at 0.12–1% (a value the review cites from earlier literature). It also says that drying changes the aroma of M. vulgare, giving it a pungent but pleasant smell and an aromatic taste with bitterness. Like the existing bitter-value figure of 3.0, these are summaries in a review; no sensory values by degree of drying or place of origin are given.
Sources for this overview
Assessment report on Marrubium vulgare L., herba
Checked for this overview: Used the description of bitterness in dried flowering aerial parts and marrubiin's involvement. / Used the fact that the assessment concerns medicinal specifications, not a sensory test.
Marrubium vulgare L.: A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Overview
Checked for this overview: Used the review's bitter-value figure of 3.0. / Used the limitation that the basis for the bitter-value calculation cannot be identified. / Figures for total labdane diterpenes and the proportion of marrubiin.
Checked for this overview: Used the description of marrubiin as a principal bitter constituent.
Follow the connections
horehound →— major bitter compound→ marrubiin
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Composition and content (2)
Scope: The dried flowering aerial parts of Marrubium vulgare
Note: The EMA assessment report records its role in bitterness and a standard of 0.7% or more in the dried herbal drug. This is not a recommendation for culinary use.
Show data
spice-horehound —has_major_bitter_compound→ compound-marrubiinScope: Layer: literature. Description from the Composition section of an existing academic review (Aćimović et al. 2020, Molecules).
Show data
spice-horehound —has_composition→ compound-marrubiinCulture (1)
Scope: A candidate at the level of general knowledge. Regional and naming differences have not been confirmed.
No source connected — this claim has not been verified yet. It is a general-knowledge placeholder, not a confirmed statement.
Show data
spice-horehound —is_used_as→ "Spices and herbs that add bitter flavor and aroma to dishes and drinks"