Lovage
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Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a plant, the leaves and seeds or fruit of which are used to flavor food, especially in South European cuisine. It is a tall (3 to 9 ft) perennial that vaguely resembles its cousin celery in appearance and in flavor. Lovage also sometimes gets referred to as smallage, but this is more properly used for celery.
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Characteristics
The fruit of the lovage plant can be used as a spice, but what appears in the trade as lovage seed is usually ajwain, not lovage. On the other hand, what is sold as 'celery seed' is often partially or entirely ground lovage seed.
The root of lovage, which contains a heavy, volatile oil, is used as a mild aquaretic. Lovage root contains furanocoumarins which can lead to photosensitivity.
Lovage is considered a "magic bullet" companion plant; much as borage helps protect almost all plants from pests, so lovage is thought to improve the health of almost all plants.
Etymology
In Germany and Holland, one of the common names of Lovage is Maggikraut (German) or Maggiplant (Dutch) because the plant's taste is reminiscent of Maggi soup seasoning. In many other European languages the word for lovage derives from Latin ligusticus (meaning "of Liguria", as the herb used to grow heartily in the Liguria region of northwest Italy), through its alteration levisticum: Italian levistico, French livèche, Romanian leuştean, Hungarian lestyán, Russian любисток lyubistok, etc. In Bulgaria it is known as девесил deveseel. The official German name is Liebstöckel, literally 'love sticklet'. In English the word became love parsley, and due to the name, lovage was often used in over-the-counter love tonics.
Medicinal uses
Lovage tea can be applied to wounds as an antiseptic, or drunk to stimulate digestion. In the UK, Lovage cordial is traditionally mixed with brandy in the ratio of 2:1 as a winter drink. Lovage is second only to capers in its quercetin content.
See also
References
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: lovage
- ^ Dobelis I, ed. Reader's Digest Magic and Medicine of Plants, Reader's Digest Association, USA 1986;239, as cited by Drugs.com
- ^ Source: http://www.dict.cc/?s=Liebst%C3%B6ckel See also German wikipedia article
- ^ http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Flav/flav.pdf nal.usda.gov
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