A Great Herb Many Have Never Heard of!

Lovage-use the lovage herb for healthy living.

Lovage- a little known herb that is easy to grow in your herb garden and which makes a big impact in soups, salad, stuffings and stews.
Lovage is a very versatile herb. The lovage leaf looks a little like a celery leaf, and lovage and celery have a similar flavor.
The leaves of the lovage can be picked fresh from the herb garden and used for salad. Lovage can be added to soups for a fascinating flavor.
Lovage goes well with fish and chicken, either as a stuffing, or used in poaching.
Pick some lovage from you herb garden and enjoy the flavor of fresh herbs.Use this winter period to look at your garden and find a small patch where you can plant lovage. You'll then be able to enjoy these great lovage recipes from spring to autumn.
This fresh green herb can be used for natural remedies and in alternative medicine.
Here I'll give you lovage recipes, tips on how to use lovage in herbal remedies, and tell you how to grow lovage in your herb garden.
all photos are my own unless otherwise credited. You may use them if you credit me. Please feel free to pin them

CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

1. The history of the Lovage herb or Lovage...
2. How to grow the Lovage herb
3. These herb scissors are excellent for cu...
4. Lovage in cooking and lovage recipes
5. The Best gifts for women who love herbs.
6. Lots of great lovage recipes using lovag...

More

The history of the Lovage herb or Lovage plant

How has the lovage herb been grown and used?

Lovage, ( Levisticum officinale ) is also known as Old English Lovage. Italian Lovage. Cornish Lovage, Sea parsley or Love parsley. -
The "love " part of the name "lovage" may date back to the middle ages, when its seeds were used a part of a love potion.It was grown in old monastery gardens, and its seeds, leaves and stalks were all used for medicial purposes.
In the Middle Ages, the emperor Charlemagne so loved lovage that he ordered it to be grown in all his gardens.
Lovage is widely used in homeopathic remedies and for herbal medicine.

Here is my herb garden at White Moss House, Grasmere , in the Lake District. My lovage is on the left of the picture.

The 17th Century herbalist, Nicholas Culpepper wrote of lovage that an infusion 'being dropped into the eyes taketh away their redness or dimness.... It is highly recommended to drink the decoction of the herb for agues.... The distilled water is good for quinsy if the mouth and throat be gargled and washed therewith.... The decoction drunk three or four times a day is effectual in pleurisy.... The leaves bruised and fried with a little hog's lard and laid hot to any blotch or boil will quickly break "- a wide variety of uses!

Although garden Lovage is one of the old English herbs which was very common in gardens centuries ago, it has recently been out of favor.
In my herb garden , it grows very well, and lovage is a herb that is well suited to the gardener who likes to grow something just a bit unusual to use in recipes and cooking.

Lovage is beginning to get more popular again, and lovage now appears in recipes from vaious top chefs.

At White Moss House we certainly love lovage!

How to grow the Lovage herb

The lovage plant is very easy to grow.

You need quite a good sized space to grow lovage. Once it gets established the lovage plant will grow as high as 6 foot.
When we used to make lovage soup regularly in our restuarant at White Moss House, we needed two or three plants, but now that we mostly just cook for ourselves one plant would be ample.

Lovage is a perrenial. In the winter it vanishes, so I leave a few of last year's stalks as markers. In the spring, it shows as a purple- green leaf, then quickly grows to full height in April and May.

Lovage can take partial shade and does better in soil that is fairly fertile and not too dry. If you have a longer growing season, simply direct seed it outside. In the north, start seeds indoors about 6 weeks ahead for transplanting, or buy a plant from a garden center.

Lovage seed needs to be fairly fresh, and to make sure you get one good plant, sow at least 4 seeds in a pot. When you move the plant to the garden keep it well watered for the first couple weeks, and feed with a natural fertilizer. The first year you won't see it's full growth-it will only reach about 2 foot, but you can begin to harvest at a foot. Cut stems from the side, and chop to use in recipes.

The seed heads, shown above, need to be cut back to keep the plant growing strongly.

Towards the end of the summer, your lovage plant will become rather stringy , and I find that if I cut it down firmly, it will sometimes produce a good showing of fresh leaves.
In the autumn, cut all the plant down, leaving just a few marker stalks to show you where the lovage plant will appear next year.

If you like the idea of using lovage, I think you might also like lovage and sorrel- 2 unusual herbs .
I've also written a very interesting article about sorrel that you'll love!

These herb scissors are excellent for cutting fresh herbs

This really simple gadget is really useful

These scissors have 5 blades, so you pick your fresh lovage and snip the leaves over your food, getting lovely little pieces of fresh herbs in just the right place.

RSVP Herb Scissors

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 05/07/2012)

Easy to grip and simple to use. Neat and quick- a simple, superb idea that is perfect for cutting you fresh herbs. I'm going to order these for myself!

UK readers can buy multi blade herb scissors through this link.

Lovage in cooking and lovage recipes

Lovage has many uses in lovage recipes and lovage salads.

Lovage is closely related to celery. and the leaves look similar. The flavor is also very similar to that of celery, but the leaves tend to be used with lovage, rather than the stalks with celery.
The stalks can be used like angelica, for candying, and the seeds can be used infusions, but in most lovage receipes it is the leaves that are used.

My favorite uses for the lovage herb are-

Add the chopped leaves to casseroles for an really interesting flavor. The anise, celery flavor of the lovage works really well.

Lovage is great when cooking lentils- sweat a few leaves with onions , then let the lentils cook slowly with the lovage.

Thanks to Iban and flickr creative commons for the photo

Chop the leaves and add to cream cheese- this can then be used as a stuffing - lovely in a chicken breast.

Pesto is traditionally made with basil, but can be made with most herbs. I use sorrel and lovage.
Lovage can be used oon a pizza topping, and it is excellent with fish, such as salmon.

Salmon and lovage photo thanks to ulterior epicure and flickr creative commons

Chop the leaves in a fresh leaf and herb salad- dress with your favorite dressing.

Lovage soup is delicious. We love leek and lovage soup- it sounds good and tastes fantastic- the leeks and lovage really work well together.

Sprinkle lovage on your pizza topping for a little extra special flavor.

A handful of chopped lovage on pasta looks and tastes great.

Chop the lovage leaves and add to a paste of soft butter- use as a topping for vegetable ( it is really good on carrots)

The Best gifts for women who love herbs.

If you know someone who loves herbs, these herbal gifts are perfect.

I love herbs in all their shapes and sizes. Herbs are used in many ways that make perfect gifts for the woman who loves herbs.
I love herbal shower gels, herbal teas, herbal room sprays, herbal candles.....the list is long. Here I've chosen my favorite herbal gifts which I would love to receive. Do you know someone who would love to receive these gifts?

The best gifts for women who love herbs

Herbal remedies make a great gift ideas The best gifts do not need to cost lots of money. A thoughtful gift is one that really suits the receiver, and these...

Lots of great lovage recipes using lovage herb

Lovage herb recipes to make

Lovage has now become a fashion item for top chefs.
Here are lots of great lovage recipes for you to try.
You can make lovage soup, chicken with lovage, or fish with lovage

Lovage and potato soup

Lovage and potato soup, from the BBC Food programme

Chicken, cider and lovage casserole

A really flavorsome dish from the UKs top supermarket, Waitrose

Turbot with ginger and lovage

A wonderful use of lovage with fish, from top chef Andrew Nutter

Lettuce and lovage soup

Lettuce and lovage make a great summer soup. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall loves lovage!

Pea and lovage soup

Pea and lovage are another great summer combination, as you can see from this recipe from top chef Mark Hix.

Baked goats cheese with breadcrumbs and lovage pesto

From the Daily Telegraph comes this delicious lovage pesto recipe. Great for vegetarians.

You can buy lovage on Amazon

If you are looking for lovage seeds,you can buy them on Amazon.
There are lots of other herb products on Amazon as well. Plan your garden for next spring with the help of Amazon.

Lovage Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom lovage seeds- sow the heirloom lovage plant for your garden next year.

Amazon Price: $1.99 (as of 05/07/2012) 

Honeyman Farms Lovage Seed Packet

Mor egood seeds at a great price

Amazon Price: $2.79 (as of 05/07/2012) 

"The Adventuresome Gardener" 10 Unusual Seed Packets By Botanical Interests in Gift Box

This would make a lovely Christmas gift for a gardener

Amazon Price: $24.94 (as of 05/07/2012) 

I write a lots about herbs. I love my herb garden.

Love herbs? So do I!

Here are lots more of my herb garden favorites. I'd love you to visit them.

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