Mugwort

Mugwort is the common name for aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, the leaves of which are used as spices and flavourings. In Asian cooking, leaves are added as an ingredient to stuffings, rice cakes, and tea flavourings, while in Western countries it has uses as a flavouring for poultry, pork, and game dishes. The herb contains volatile oils and bitter sesquiterpene lactones that give it a distinctive sage-like, slightly bitter character. As with all dried herbs, proper drying and storage must prevent mold growth and preserve volatile flavour compounds, and commercial lots are checked for foreign matter and microbial quality.