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A to Z of French Herbs - Chervil
Continuing the A to Z of French herbs, today's herb is the cousin to parsley. To be honest, I'd never heard about it before I moved to France, Chervil.
Chervil is pronounced Cher like the singer and ville like the French word for town. But in French, it's called Cerfeuil.
Chervil is often called French parsley or garden chervil. It’s an annual herb related to the parsley family. It used to be called Myrhis as its oil had an aroma similar to the resin from Myrrh which is extracted from a tiny thorny tree that’s used for perfume and incense amongst other things.
Back to chervil though, it’s commonly used as a seasoning for various French dishes and most notably used in the popular herb mixture fine herbes.
The name chervil is Anglo-Norman from Latin and is derived from the Greek chaerophyllon, meaning the herb of rejoicing or, less reverentially, the happy herb.
A to Z of French Herbs - Chamomile
Chamomile is a flowering plant that belongs to the daisy family. The plant has small white flowers with yellow centers, and it's known for its distinctive scent and taste. Chamomile has a long history of medicinal use, but it's also used in cooking in many parts of the world.
There is two common species of Chamomile one is often called German Chamomile or Water of Youth and the other is Roman, English or garden chamomile. The later is often used to create a chamomile lawn.
A chamomile lawn is a type of lawn made up of chamomile plants instead of grass. The lawn is created by planting chamomile plugs or seeds in a prepared area of soil, which is then regularly watered and maintained. One such lawn was feature in Mary Wesley’s 1984 novel, funnily enough called The Camomile Lawn which feature a house in Cornwall UK with a lawn planted with chamomile rather than grass.