A little lovage goes a long way to liven food.
A native of the Mediterranean region, lovage grows wild in the mountains of southern France, in northern Greece and in the Balkans. According to Grieve’s Modern Herbal, lovage was greatly used as a medicinal plant in the fourteenth century, mainly due to its pleasing aromatic odor. It’s been found to be diuretic and today is a folk cure for minor stomachaches, headaches and kidney problems in some parts of Europe.
Naturalized in North America, lovage was grown as a salad herb in colonial gardens. The Shakers, who called it “smallage,” candied lovage stalks in sugar syrup and grew it for sale to the growing pharmaceutical industry and for home remedies. One of the first herbs to return in spring, this hardy perennial can reach more than six feet high during a Northeast summer.
A Celery Substitute
Botanically known as Levisticum officinale, the herb’s name is a distortion of Latin ligusticum, because it was abundantly grown in the Italian region of Liguria. Often compared to celery, lovage is called céleri bâtard, or “false celery” by the French. In Germany, lovage is known as Maggikraut, or “Maggi herb,” because its bittersweet flavor is somewhat like a combination of celery and salty Maggi seasoning. A member of the carrot family, it also has been called “love parsley” because its leaves resemble flat-leaf parsley.
The leaves, seeds and stalks can be eaten. Used in small amounts, lovage is a superb enhancement for stews, soups and salads, and is especially good in green salads and potato and tomato dishes.
Lovage can replace meat and bone stock in soups and adds character to many vegetable, meat and fish dishes. It is still commonly used in Southern and Central European cuisine, chiefly in beef soups, tomato sauces, sour pickles and flavored vinegar. The thick, hollow stalks and stem bases were once blanched like celery, but lovage is no longer widely used as a vegetable.
Because lovage has such a rich taste, home cooks are advised to add just a little to food when first using it. The smaller, inside stems have a somewhat milder taste and are particularly nice chopped fresh in salads such as tuna, potato and macaroni.
An added bonus: the hollow stems may be used as drinking "straws" to add flavor to tomato-based drinks such as Bloody Marys.
Lovage has other strong points. Its large leafy and ornamental branches set off other plants when it’s planted in the background, and its small yellow flowers in June attract many insects that are beneficial to the garden.
Growing Lovage
Lovage likes rich, moist, but well-drained soil and a sunny location, although it will welcome late afternoon shade during hot summers. The herb is fairly easy to propagate. Its seeds ripen in mid-summer and should be sown when they are fresh. Lovage may also be divided at the roots in early spring. Plants should last for several years, and dividing the plant or planting its seeds each year will ensure a healthy supply. Lovage easily survives the cold winters although it does die back to the ground.
Admirers of the herb need not go without during the colder months, as lovage dries well. In fact, its dried seeds are sold as "celery seed" in stores. Dried and powdered lovage stalks and leaves make a great salt substitute. Leaves may be stored in a plastic bag or container in the freezer and added to soups and stews.
Other plants also bear the name “lovage,” and home cooks and gardeners should buy starter plants or seeds from reputable growers to be sure they’re sowing Levisticum officinale, or culinary lovage.
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