Alexanders

Alexanders was introduced by the Romans from its native Mediterranean habitat to add its myrrh-like flavour to broths and stews and it can be eaten raw in salads. It was also planted as a vegetable in the early monastery gardens and is often found growing prolifically by the ruins of old abbeys and castles in Ireland and the west of England. The 17th-century diarist, John Evelyn, included it among ‘plants for the Kitchen garden’, and it continued to be used widely, as a vegetable and for flavouring, until it was displaced by celery.