Lovage

The species Ligusticum scoticum is known as sea lovage or Scottish lovage in America where it grows wild on the north Atlantic coast. In Scotland it was much used in the past with the common name of shunis. A powerfully scented herb, something like celery but with a musky lemon scent, its leaves are large and a few can be used instead of celery. It can be used either blanched or unblanched in salads, the stems can be candied like angelica and the seeds used on cheese biscuits, but its most successful use is the unusual flavouring which it imparts to broths, clear or thick. A neglected old-fashioned herb which could be more widely used. (A bunch held under the bath tap makes an aromatic relaxing herbal bath.)