Lovage

This is a hardy umbelliferous perennial similar to angelica in appearance and with a strong celery taste. It is not absolutely clear whether Roman cooks used the green herb or just the seeds in their recipes – they never identify the spice beyond its name. I believe that the seed was the standard ingredient, largely because in the recipes the spice occurs after the pepper at the beginning of a list and never among the other obvious herbs. It is also worth noting that the list of kitchen ingredients at the beginning of the Vinidarius collection of recipes includes lovage seed. For these reasons I do not often use the green herb. Lovage seed is a flat, ovoid seed similar in length to cumin, with ridges running from end to end. It is not in any way similar to celery seed in appearance or to the ajwain or ajowan (which does look like a large celery seed) which I have often found in packets in Indian supermarkets labelled as lovage. Care should be taken to identify the correct spice. It is available from herbalists and garden-centres. In the long term, growing and harvesting your own is the surest way to obtain the right spice. The flavour of ajwain is often likened to thyme; it can act as an emergency substitute.