We still have some common herbs coming in the series about Cooking with Fresh Herbs, but I do take requests and the lovely Mata wants to know more about lovage. It's an herb I've never used, so I'm excited to learn about something new.

When Mata left the comment asking me to write about lovage, I reported back that when I searched, there were a lot of recipes for it . However, now that I'm looking deeper into the search results to find recipes using lovage, I see that I'm finding the same links over and over, plus a few recipes where lovage is suggested as a substitute for another herb. Obviously this is a relatively little-used herb compared to many others.

Wikipedia tells us that lovage is related to celery, and all parts of the plant have a flavor similar to celery. Lovage is used in Southern European cooking, especially as a flavoring for soup. The plant produces seeds, which are sometimes sold as celery seed, and leaves. The leaves are an ingredient in Maggi soup seasoning, which gives the plant the name Maggikraut or Maggiplant in some parts of Europe. The roots and rhizome of the plant also have medicinal uses.

The lovage plant is a perennial, and lovage is relatively easy to grow with sun and occasional watering. The lovage plant also attracts beneficial insects to the garden, but it is a rather large plant which self-seeds, so it needs a roomy location.

More About Lovage:
Mermaid Treasure ~ Lovage Part 1
Kitchenmage ~ In Love with Lovage (plus a recipe for Halibut with Apple, Leek, and Lovage Ragout)
Sidewalk Shoes ~ More Info about lovage and a great photo of the herb (added 7-12-08)

Lovage Used in Soup:
Becks and Posh ~ Lettuce and Lovage Soup
You Are What You Eat ~ Lovage and Potato Soup

If any BlogHer readers have more ideas for using lovage, please leave your link or a recipe in the comments.

(So far in the series Cooking with Fresh Herbs we've covered Cilantro, Tarragon, Parsley, Mint, Dill, and Lovage. You can see all the posts by clicking the tag Cooking With Fresh Herbs.)

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen. She has never cooked with lovage, but is thinking it's a good candidate for her herb garden.