Nutrition and buying tips: Rosemary

Below are average values per 1 tsp (1.2g) of dried rosemary leaves

Proximates
Water 0.11g
Energy 4kcal
Protein 0.06g
Total lipid (fat) 0.18g
Carbohydrate, by difference 0.77g
Fiber, total dietary 0.5g

Minerals
Calcium, Ca 15mg
Iron, Fe 0.35mg
Magnesium, Mg 3mg
Phosphorus, P 1mg
Potassium, K 11mg
Sodium, Na 1mg
Zinc, Zn 0.04mg

Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid 0.7mg
Thiamin 0.006mg
Riboflavin 0.005mg
Niacin 0.012mg
Vitamin B-6 0.021mg
Folate, DFE 4µg
Vitamin B-12 0.00µg
Vitamin A, RAE 2µg
Vitamin A, IU 381IU
Vitamin D (D2 + D3) 0.0µg
Vitamin D 0IU

Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated 0.088g
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated 0.036g
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated 0.028g
Cholesterol 0mg

Tips on buying quality Rosemary

Rosemary is one of the easier herbs to buy right, but… it’s hard to find the right herb. In dried form, Rosemary is commonly traded as long and short stems. The short stemmed Rosemary Leaves are usually much cheaper, because they’re easier to process than the long ones. Short stems are often the waste product from the selection process of long stems. Long stems keep in more flavour, as they are the ends of the herb. Short stems are the opposite: they are usually the innermost parts of the leaf, connected to the stem. Because of their nature, short stems also often get crushed, and mixed in with powder – most flavour is gone by this point. So rule number 1: Buy long stems when possible.

Rosemary is also often mixed with dirty grey stems. Because the stems are so similar in size and shape to the Rosemary leaves, they get mixed very easily. Buying from cheaper traders will mean these mixed in stems are still intact. This issue rarely comes in supermarket brands, but 3-5 small pieces are always found, even in the giant global brands. Besides painstaking hand sorting, it’s unavoidable with Rosemary. But easier to spot in “long stems” – hence why so many brands stay away from them. Since the Regency brand has always been taste first, price second, our Rosemary are the “Super Long” grade, hand sorted to remove stems from this grade. 

Rosemary is native to the mediterranean, so it’s important when buying Rosemary to ensure that the country of origin is a Mediterranean country. Other origins will have less pronounced flavours and rarely carry the “wow” factor associated with origins such as Morocco.

Our price for Rosemary today:

20G (0.71 OZ) HKD 48
50G (1.8 OZ) HKD 96
100G (3.5 OZ) HKD 168