Learning About Lovage with Kathleen at The Village Herb Shop!

Lovage in the Herb Garden!  Looking Good!

The Herb Garden at the Village Herb Shop in Chagrin Falls, OH!

We Made a Seasoning for Soup and a Rub for Vegetables and Chicken Using Lovage!

Well, my herbal companion, Bonnie and I went up to Chagrin Falls to take another wonderful class on a specific herb, lovage from our favorite herbal goddess, Kathleen Gips.  Bonnie and I have both used lovage before.  We just wanted to make sure that we were using it wisely.  We got to try a carrot and lovage soup and a small sandwich of tuna salad made with lovage made by Kathleen's staff member, Heather.  I'm going to make a version of cream of carrot and lovage soup and a cornbread recipe that I will use as part of a post for Mother Earth Living magazine tomorrow.  Got to start somewhere.

Lovage is a perennial herb from Zones 5 to 8.  It needs a large space in the garden.  Once you plant it and it is in the ground for several years, it takes a piece of machinery to get it out.  It needs four to six hours to grow.  I love it because it is a true spring time herb.  It has a celery smell and flavor but a stronger depth of flavor.  In many European countries, it was thought to have special powers as a love charm or an aphrodisiac.

Lovage was a very important cooking and salad herb in the middle ages.  It is up early in the garden.  I have dried leaves between two pieces of paper toweling that gives it a scent of lovage as a bonus.  Once dried (If they aren't completely dried, they will turn moldy!), lovage can be stored in a glass jar or plastic container.  Leaves also freeze well.  It doesn't have much of a flower.  Lovage is grown for its leaves.  Once it flowers and goes to seed, cut and dry the seeds to be used like celery seeds.  Very flavorful.  Because it is a stronger flavor than celery, it can be used in soups, eggs, salads and stuffing.  The hollow stems can be used as a straw for beverages both alcoholic and nonalcoholic.  It can also be used in vinegars, butters and pulverize two cups of fresh lovage leaves with one cup of water in a blender.  Freeze in ice cube trays and use one cube per pot of soup.  It was a great herb day in Chagrin Falls with Kathleen of The Village Herb Shop.

Going to be another cold one tonight.  Hopefully, the herbs will make it one more cold night so I have a bit more time to harvest.  Hope you have had a great day.  Talk to you later.