All the Dirt on Gardening

Lovage officinalis  Lovage, Levisticum officinalis is blooming this week in the veg garden. I wrote about it in April, 2011 and here's a link to that article . It's supposed to be hardy in zones 4 to 8 though I suspect that ours are coming up from seed rather than last year's root. When the J. L. Hudson Seedsman supplement arrived last week, I noticed a Black Lovage offering that made me curious. Also called Horse Parsley, Tanya at Lovely Greens says Black Lovage, Smyrnium Olusatrum, was brought to the UK by the Romans and now is considered a weed by many. She steamed them and ate the stems with butter and salt. Pronounced them delicious. Arthur Lee Jacobson posted about Black Lovage, Smyrnium Olussatrum, in April 2006, giving it mixed reviews. Two recipe sources for using Lovage - Cooks and The Guardian . Lovage officinalis Since Lovage officinalis does well here, I'm considering adding the Black variety. Anyone growing either or bo...

Lovage is a beautiful and useful foliage plant for any sunny or partly shady garden space in zones 4 to 8. A true perennial, it will return every spring for years. The roots are divided every few years, like rhubarb. It needs a dormant winter so it rarely succeeds in warm climates. Used as a kitchen herb for hundreds of years, Levisticum officinalis is a key ingredient in Italian cooking. In the spring and early summer, the leaves taste like celery though in late summer they become bitter. And, like celery, Lovage adds a salty flavor to salad dressing and prepared dishes. The stems are cut in April for candy. Boil the stems until tender, drain and dry. Lay them in a syrup made of equal parts sugar and water and leave it there for 3 days. Then re-heat it without boiling. Put the stems in a slightly warm oven until dry. Candied Lovage stems In Eastern Europe the chopped leaves are added to soups, particularly in Romania. English cooks put the leaves into potato cooking water in ...