48 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



saucerfuls of caraway seeds were still served in his day 

 with roast apples at some of the London livery dinners. 



CARAWAY is a hardy biennial, and is best sown in the early 

 autumn, though it may also be sown in March or April. 



CHERVIL 



" Sweet Chervil or Sweet Cis is so like in taste unto Anis 

 seede that it much delighteth the taste among other herbs 

 in asallet." John Parkinson, Paradisi, 1629. 



The Romans taught us to use this herb, so it is a very 

 old inhabitant of the herb garden ; and a fifteenth-century 

 MS. of Cookery recipes lists it as one of the necessary plants 

 to grow for use in the kitchen. For some unknown reason 

 it has almost disappeared from English gardens, though it 

 is common enough in France. Evelyn in his Acetaria says 

 chervil should " never be wanting in sallets as long as they 

 may be had, being exceedingly wholesome and cheering 

 the spirits." He adds that " the roots boiled and eaten 

 cold are much commended for aged persons." Chervil was 

 also largely used for flavouring sauces and tarts, and also for 

 garnishing. The bulbous-rooted chervil is rarely seen on 

 English tables, but it is extensively used on the Continent. 

 The roots should be carefully washed but never scraped, 

 and they take a long time cooking. Parboiled roots of 

 chervil fried in butter are excellent; formerly they were 

 always eaten during a time of plague. 



Parkinson says, " Common chervil is much used of the 

 French and Dutch people to bee boiled or stewed in a pipkin 

 either by itself or with other herbs, whereof they make a 

 Loblolly and so eate it. Sweet e chervil gathered while it 

 is young and put among other herbs for a sallet addeth a 

 marvellous good relish to all the rest." 



CHERVIL likes a light, well-drained soil, and plenty of 

 chalk. Sow the seeds from February to August for succes- 

 sion in drills eight inches apart, and thin the seedlings to 

 six inches apart. The leaves are ready to be used when a 

 few inches high. 



