Fresh and wild: Lovage

Tag : celery root

Lovage, also known as wild celery, is a bit like a giant version offlat-leaf parsley. It can grow to 8ft and is bigger in taste thaneither parsley or celery — a little goes a long way.

Its popularity in cooking and herbal medicine was at its height inmedieval times, when it grew profusely in walled kitchen gardens.

The leaves were chopped and added at the end of cooking to flavoursoups, salads and meat; stems were braised like celery andcrystallised like angelica; roots were made into a popular cordialmixed with brandy; seeds were added to bread.

Its name comes from its reputation as a love potion. But it wasalso used as a cure for digestive problems such as wind, as well aspoisons and infections. A bunch of the bruised leaves, held underthe hot tap while running a bath, makes an aromatic and relaxingsoak.

When cultivated celery arrived and home remedies were abandoned,lovage lost its popularity. Yet it’s a hardy, fast-growingperennial. A root in my own garden has sprouted to 6ft in less thanfour years.

This is a different variety, but similar in taste, to Scotchlovage, also known as sea parsley. Peculiar to Scotland, it growswild in small clumps on the seashore.

Real Flavours by Glynn Christian, Grub Street £15.99.