Chervil

At the moment, chervil is almost impossible to find and not that easy to plant. It is delicate and shade loving and very fussy. This delicacy translates into its appearance and flavor.

A tiny filigree-like chervil sprig often provides the necessary final flair to a salad or a piece of shellfish. The flavor of chervil is vaguely like tarragon but much more delicate and fleeting. It shares with parsley a subtle freshness that can be used at the last minute in sauces for seafood, chicken, veal, and pork. It is also often combined with parsley, chives, and tarragon in the mixture known as fines herbes. While the idea of such a mixture is brilliant, the inclusion of tarragon, which is about four times more strongly flavored than the other three partners, poses a problem. The solution, of course, is to use only one-fourth the amount of tarragon as the other herbs.