The Celery Imposter!

Hadn’t met Lovage? Let me introduce you!

LOVAGE

My informal intro (we’ll get to formalities later) of Lovage (also referred to as “false celery”) is it’s a Hulked up celery with family ties and likeness to celery only bolder in flavor and aroma. It also has an appealing sweet taste and brings more to the table when used in cooking. Kinda like inviting a unicorn to dinner vs a horse..Just my thoughts!

Here, I’m going to detour before getting to formalities to explain how the day’s adventure into Lovage and my home holiday herbal inventory began.

It was a chain of events that led to discovery of my lack of Lovage and the revising of holiday herbs on hand.

In the lead was my dear mother!

Betwixt my lop-sided messy bun (The bun I’d since “temporarily blocked” upon it refusing my encouragements of better behavior!), my third cup of dark roast, and my eyes in slow response to twinkles of sunlight coming through the breakfast window, a familiar chime signaling a new text message emerged. Before reaching the phone, a second familiar chime. Then, a series ensued!

My sister was now in second and trailing close!

So, the morning ado? My dear mother’s initiation of holiday meal planning!

True to being my mother’s wildflower child and appropriate to current mood, I managed a witty GIF response and bit of humorous sarcasm before submission of any logical answers.

No worries, mom and sis appeared to have an extraordinary blueprint, from sister’s scratch cooking enough for an army to mom’s traditional cookies!

By messaging conclusion, holiday meal planning was toodling right along. The mention of mom’s cookies had also achieved putting some perk into my current mode. Yum!

What hadn’t occurred was any thought of holiday herb inventory nor today’s subject, Lovage! Because, quite honestly, it’s three whole weeks away. Right?

Alas, my dithering was not to last. Moments later, Mother Nature blew a gentle kiss of leaves in the backdoor and across the kitchen floor! It was with this lovely mosaic of yellow, orange and red that my holiday herbal inventory and Lovage adventure began!

Now for formalities.

Meet Lovage (Levisticum officinale)!

It is an easy to grow perennial plant akin to several herbs, spices and vegetables. It is also used medicinally though today’s adventure focuses on culinary attribution.

Cilantro, parsley, fennel and dill are some Lovage cousins alongside veggie relatives like carrots and, of course, celery!

All which can be interchanged with Lovage for unique flavor and new recipes!

Try tossing the seeds or leaves in a salad, or the stems or root in stew. Whip into a dip or add to salad dressing! Make it into hot tea or an iced refresher!

Or, one of my very simple super faves, is to use it in pico de gallo and salsa recipes!

The prospects are plentiful as Lovage is an all-inclusive culinary charm, used stem to root, raw and cooked alike. The leaves and seeds are edible too!

(Just a quick jot, if you’re familiar with Maggi seasoning, you’re already close since lovage leaves are a key ingredient)!

For the upcoming holiday, the seasonal “in crowd” of sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, oregano etc. are rarely absent from the menu. Lovage, however, isn’t commonly placed but deserves a seat at the table, nonetheless. Perhaps this year let Lovage have a seat too when thinking of stuffing, dinner rolls, veggie, or potato recipes etc. Lovage makes a fabulous stock as well!

So ends this Lovage adventure and my holiday herbal inventory with a list of all those accounted for and all those amiss, I suppose my next adventure is assuredly a holiday herbal roundup!

-Elise's Adventures In Herbaland