Chervil
Parts Usually Used
Flowering plant
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Chervil is an annual plant; the round, finely grooved, branched stem grows 12-26 inches tall from a thin, whitish root. The leaves are opposite, light green, and bipinnate, the lower leaves petioled, the upper sessile on stem sheaths. The small, white flowers grow in compound umbels from May to July. The elongated, segmented seeds ripen in August and September. The wild chervil grows 2-3 feet high with yellow stalks and joints, set with broader and more hairy leaves, divided into sundry parts, nicked about the edges and of a dark green color.
Has little or no scent.
Where Found
Cultivated in many places as a kitchen spice. In southern Europe it flourishes in the wild; a native of Asia.
Medicinal Properties
Digestive, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant
Legends, Myths and Stories
Chervil has a delicate, subtle flavor with a slight hint of anise, but the flavor does not withstand long cooking. Pliny claimed the boiled roots were used as a preventive against plague. In Europe, chervil soup is eaten on Holy Thursday as a symbol of resurrection and a new life. Because its scent reminds of the fragrance of myrrh (one of the offerings at the birth of Christ), it is often called myrrhis.
The Romans planted chervil near their encampments and still grows in the vicinity of these ancient sites.
Uses
Historically, juice pressed from the flowers was used by herbalists for eczema, gout, dropsy, and dysmenorrhea. In European folk traditions, an infusion of the plant was taken to lower blood pressure, aid indigestion, thin the blood, and serve as a general tonic and diuretic. Medieval herbals noted the application of the leaves for bruises, swellings, and the discomfort associated with rheumatism.
Chervil was also traditionally consumed in attempts to halt hiccups and held a reputation in folklore for possessing rejuvenating qualities.
How Sold
Spice
Warning
The Umbelliferae family (Umbel family) of chervil is also the family of the poisonous members of the family, like the Hemlock. Beginners find it difficult to distinguish true chervil from its more ill-disposed cousins. Care should be taken to correctly identify chervil.
Bibliography
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. , Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print) The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine , by Dr. A. , 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H.
Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974