Lovage
Levisticum officinale
Leaf, stem, seed · warming · seasoning
The celery of the herb bed — one leaf seasons a whole pot.
On the nose
How it smells
Intense celery — green, vegetal, a little bitter — spicy and earthy, like a seasoning leaf. Stronger and more complex than celery or parsley.
More green potIn the mouth
How it tastes
Celery turned up loud. One leaf seasons a soup.
Traditional use
A soup herb first. Folk kitchens treated lovage as a mineral, green salt — broth, potato, a spring soup that needed backbone. The leaf is stronger than celery; the seed is a spice.
In the cup
One fresh leaf in a pot of soup, fished out. A pinch of seed crushed into broth. A tea of the leaf is possible and very celery — keep it short.
Blood
Salty blood · salt
Salt is cooling and barely a taste. These plants dry first, then move fluid — and water follows. They are mineral salts, not table salt: building, coating to sensitive membranes, thinning stuck mucous, supporting kidneys and the kreb-cycle minerals of muscle and nerve.
Read salty bloodReached for
The promise
A careful hand
Ordinary tea for a healthy adult.
A little goes far. Strong leaf can taste of medicine. Culinary amounts.
Read the whole promiseSits well with
Parsley
Petroselinum crispum
The garnish that was once a draining green.
Puffiness · Indigestion
Mineralize, soothe, and restore fluid
Celery seed
Apium graveolens
A salty seed for a waterlogged, creaky body.
Puffiness · Stiff joints
Mineralize, soothe, and restore fluid
Thyme
Thymus vulgaris
The chest herb that already lives in the spice jar.
Cough · Chill & congestion · Sore throat
Warm, move, and stimulate
Traditional kitchen and folk use only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are pregnant, nursing, on medicine, or unwell, ask a clinician before drinking anything as a remedy.