Chervil
Common names Chervil, French parsley, garden beaked parsley
Latin name Anthriscus cerefolium
Life cycle Short-lived annual
Height 18" in flower; foliage is basil rosette
Space 8-12" apart
Bloom late spring
Light Light shade
Soil Moist, humusy
Features Delicate fernlike leaves
Insect and disease resistant
Culinary
 Chervil has a subtle anise-parsley flavor which can be a delicious addition to green salads, omelets and soup. Use fresh with fish (especially salmon), eggs, asparagus, potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, spinach, sorrel, cream cheese. In France chervil is often substituted for parsley because the flavors are similar. The stems can be chopped and added raw to salads. The leaves can be made into a tea. A herb butter can be made by mincing 1 tbsp. of fresh leaves with 1/2 cup soften butter. Wrap the butter in plastic and store it up to 1 month in the refrigerator or 3 months in freezer. Use it for biscuits, steamed vegetables, poached fish or chicken, or to sauté. Add chervil at the last moment to sauté, soup, and stews because lengthy cooking turns the herb bitter.

Medicinal
Bruised chervil plants have been applied fresh or as poultices to wounds. Chervil infusions of leaves and flowers have been used as an aid for digestion, a diuretic, an expectorant, a stimulant, a dissolver of congealed blood, and to treat eczema, high blood pressure, and gout. kidney stones, pleurisy, dropsy, and menstrual problems. According to Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs there is no clinical evidence to support any of these claims.

Ornamental
Curley leaf chervil has fern like lacy foliage and is more ornamental than plain flat leaf chervil. Chervil flowers are attractive in fresh or dried arrangements. Its delicate foliage looks good in containers plantings and planted among annuals and perennials in early spring.

Culture
The hardest part of growing chervil is to keep the plants from going to seed. Chervil plants will go to flower when the days are long and the weather is hot. Sowing seeds every two weeks until the weather is hot will give you a constant supply of leaves. Avoid disturbing the taproot if using transplants. Keeping flowers cut will encourage leafy growth. Chervil grows best in cool weather and light shade. Full sun will bleach out its delicate foliage.

Harvest
You can harvest leaves about 6 to 8 weeks after sowing. Pick the outside leaves of each plant and allow the younger leaves to continue growing. Harvesting chervil frequently will promote leaf growth and delay flowering. The flavor is best just before flowering and in cool weather. Chervil does not dry well and will lose much of its flavor. The best way to dry it is to spread it on a screen in a warm room and dry it as fast as possible without excessive heat. Chervil retains the flavor better when frozen. You can freeze finely chopped fresh leaves in a little water in ice cube trays. A good way to store chervil is to make a butter, which can be frozen or kept in the refrigerator.

Caution
Chervil resembles poisonous hemlock, fool's parsley, and water dropwort and should not be gathered from the wild.

Other Common Names
 Beak parsley, garden chervil, French parsley, gourmet parsley, queen of the parsleys, salad chervil


References:

Bubel, N.  1991. "Culinary Kin" in Horticulture. The Art of American Gardening 
        May page 26-30

Bremness, L.  1994.  The Eyewitness Handbook of Herbs.  DK Publishing, Inc., 
	New York, NY.  page 230 .
 
Carlson, M.  2000.  Herbs for the Pacific Northwest. Steller Press Limited, 
	Vancouver, British Columbia.  pages 110-111. 

Clevely, A. and K. Richmond. 1995.  The Complete Book of Herbs.  Smithmark
	Publishers,  New York, NY.  page 76.

Collins, B.L. and F.A. Giles.  1998.   Landscaping Herbs. Stipes Publishing L.L.C., 
	page 23.

Kowalchik, C. and W. H. Hylton.  1998  Rodales's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs. 
	Rodale Press, Inc.,  Emmaus, PA.  pages 83-84.

Small, E.  1997.  Culinary Herbs.  NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 
	pages 339-344.

Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine editors.  1995.  Herbs  Sunset Publishing 
	Corporation, Menlo Park, CA.  page 47.


©2001 Beth's Backyard

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