Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Lovage along with all the Lovage containing recipes presented on this site, with 207 recipes in total.

e This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Lovage as a major herb flavouring.

Lovage, Levisticum officinale (also known as Garden Lovage, Bladder Seed and Love Parsley) is an herbaceous perennial of the Apiaceae (carrot) family. It grows to about 1.8m tall and recalls celery in both its appearance and flavour, though it is considerably stronger in taste. It is a wildlife attractant in the garden and is a good companion plant. The plant is native to Central Asia, but has been naturalized world-wide.



All parts of the plant are edible and the leaves and stems may be used as a savoury flavouring in salads, soups, stews etc and impart a yeasty celery-like flavour. Young stems can also be blanched and used as celery. The seeds can be used as a spice and have a strong yeasty flavour. In Central Europe they are often used as a flavouring in cakes, soups and salads. The root, when cooked, has a strong savoury taste and it can either be used as a flavouring or can be served as a vegetable. A tea can also be made from the leaves, though this has a strong flavour that is more like a broth than a tea. Lovage tea is often applied to wounds as an antiseptic.



The fresh leaves only contain a small amount (0.5%) of essential oil, the most component aromatic components of which are phthalides (ligustilide, butylphthalide and a partially hydrogenated derivative thereof called sedanolide). The terpenols terpineol, carvacrol and eugenol are present, but at much lower concentrations.



The English name lovage is derived from Middle English loveache, which is a borrowing from the Old French luvesche and which is itself is ultimately derived from the Classical Latin ligusticum, itself shortened from ligusticum apium (literally 'Ligurian celery', as lovage was common in in the Liguria region of Western Italy).