Lovage (Levisticum officinale)

Livèche. Umbellifer

Appears in

By Richard Olney

Published 1974

  • About
Perennial. Easily grown but needs garden space. Just as celery looks like a large version of parsley, lovage resembles a large version of garden celery (and a small version of angelica) in appearance. Like hyssop, it was much used in the past and its name is known to many, but few know the herb.

The flavor recalls that of celery but is more penetrating and “wilder.” It may be added, chopped, to vegetable soups—try it in small quantity at first; but its logical place is in a bouquet garni for a preparation—pot-au-feu, poule-au-pot, or a long-cooking stew—whose unhurried development permits the lovage to refine and fuse with the other aromatics, its own slight arrogance dissolving into the whole.