Chervil

Anthriscus cerefolium

herb

Fine, lacy leaves of a small umbellifer with a delicate, faintly aniseed taste; added raw, at the end, to omelettes, sauces and fines herbes. It provides chlorophyll.

Origin

Caucasus and Eastern Europe

Season (United States)

March to October · grows in your region

Preparation

The leaves are snipped raw, at the last moment: over an omelette, a soup, a sauce, with other fine herbs; cooking and drying make it lose its aroma. It grows at ground level and catches the splashes of watering: washing it leaf by leaf, in plenty of water, beats a quick rinse of the whole bunch.

Molecules

ChlorophyllIn small amounts, not counted Falcarinol · Vitamin C

Did you know?

The Romans grew it so widely that no one quite knows where it comes from; Charlemagne had it planted on his estates.