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Thyme
Thyme is sold both fresh and dried. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is often available year-round.
The fresh form is more flavourful but also less convenient; storage life is rarely more than a week. However, the fresh form can last many months if carefully frozen.[12]
Fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant.[13] It is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters ("leaves") spaced 15 to 25 millimetres (1⁄2 to 1 inch) apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch (or fraction thereof), or by the sprig, or by the tablespoon or teaspoon. Dried thyme is widely used in Armenia in tisanes (called urc).
Depending on how it is used in a dish, the whole sprig may be used (e.g., in a bouquet garni), or the leaves removed and the stems discarded. Usually, when a recipe mentions a bunch or sprig, it means the whole form; when it mentions spoons, it means the leaves. It is perfectly acceptable to substitute dried for whole thyme.
Leaves may be removed from stems either by scraping with the back of a knife, or by pulling through the fingers or tines of a fork.
