THE HERBERY
WITH FRAGRANT LEAVES AND FLAVOUR- BOMB SEEDS, SWEET CICELY IS AS TASTY AS IT IS EASY TO GROW. LIA LEENDERTZ PROVES ITS WORTH IN DELICIOUS SALADS, PUDS AND APERITIFS
With just a little unpicking of sweet cicely’s Latin name – Myrrhis odorata – you can tell that it’s going to have a gorgeous and unusual fragrance. Essentially the name translates to ‘myrrh... smells like’, and is likely a reference to myrrh’s liquorice scent. Take hold of a creamy flower head and breathe in: sweet cicely has the same aniseed notes, though a gentler, sweeter, greener version than liquorice or myrrh.
It is delicious and slightly odd, and the scent is not the only thing going for sweet cicely, which by rights should find itself in more gardens, and more kitchens. In the garden it is easy and pretty, happy to skulk in the shade, only ever needing planting once, and often throwing up little seedlings. It has gorgeous cream umbels of flowers in spring, which match the May countryside froth of hawthorn, elderflower and cow parsley, and which quickly turn to green edible seeds. In the kitchen the leaves can be chopped to add that aniseed flavour to spring salads, and the green seeds are a real seasonal treat – brief and delicious right now – eat them almost like sweeties or sprinkled over desserts, where they become fresh little aniseed-flavour bombs. Sweet cicely has a natural affinity with tart fruits such as rhubarb and gooseberry, and can make them taste sweeter, so reducing the amount of sugar you need to add. This is a magical, beautiful, and delicious herb and will grow almost anywhere.