Herb & Spice Companion

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HERB & SPICE COMPANION

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LOVAGE

Levisticum officinale

Flavors: pungent, tangy,

celery-like

Common in English kitchens, lovage is a large, elegant plant with a lot of flavor. The

broad parsley-like leaves and thick stalks give it away as a member of the parsley,

celery, and carrot family, and it can swap

in for parsley and celery in any dish—just

be sure to adjust amounts for the much

stronger flavor.

The entire lovage plant can be used

in the kitchen, from the leaves to the

roots, so you’ll get your time and mon-

ey’s worth with a specimen in your yard.

Young leaves can be tossed fresh into

salads, since they’re milder, while stalks,

seeds, roots, and older leaves are cooked

to mellow out the flavor.

In the Garden

Make sure you have plenty of room to grow lovage, a perennial, in your garden—it

can reach anywhere between three and eight feet tall. To control its size, lovage can

be grown in a large, deep container outside. The plants will go dormant over the

winter, then grow back bigger and stronger the following spring. This is not an ideal

plant for tropical climates, since it prefers cooler weather and an annual period of

dormancy.

Size: 3 to 8 feet tall

Container: At least 10 inches deep

Light: Full sun to partial shade

Soil: Rich, fertile, well drained

HEALTH BENEFITS

Lovage helps stimulate digestion

and serves as a potent diuretic,

helping to flush out the urinary

tract, prevent or fight infection,

and reduce inflammation. It also

contains high quantities of the

antioxidant quercetin, which can help

fight inflammation and prevent the

degeneration of cells due to aging.

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