Chervil

Chervil (shur-vl) is a mild, leafy green herb and one of the backbones of French cooking. It is one of the four fines herbes — along with parsley, chives and tarragon — and it is also often used as an ingredient in another popular French herb blend you may be familiar with: herbes de Provence.

If you have never tasted it, chervil carries anise and liquorice, somewhere between parsley and tarragon, though far gentler than either. It looks like a cross between parsley and carrot tops. That delicacy is the whole point of it and also its weakness: prolonged cooking drives the flavour off altogether, so it belongs at the very end rather than the beginning. Use it as a finishing herb and it will lift a dish without ever shouting.

Fresh chervil is not easy to find. It is a spring herb, it appears briefly, and it does not keep well — a few days in the fridge and it is done. Wrap it in kitchen roll before it goes in and you will get the best part of a week out of it.

Chervil is one of the first herbs of the year, up and ready when almost nothing else is, which is why it has such a long association with spring cooking in France. It belongs with eggs above all — an omelette aux fines herbes is chervil’s finest hour — and with young vegetables, new potatoes, delicate white fish, chicken and cream sauces. Béarnaise wants it. So does a spring soup: watercress, or peas and young leeks. If you have it and you are unsure what to do with it, stir a good handful through something creamy at the last second and you will understand the fuss.

It is also a genuinely nutritious leaf, and worth eating for more than the flavour. Chervil is a good source of vitamin C and of minerals — potassium, manganese, iron, zinc and magnesium — and it is rich in antioxidants. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure by balancing the effects of sodium, which is one of the quieter reasons a diet full of green herbs is good for the heart.

Chervil has a long history in traditional medicine, too. The leaves have been used to settle the stomach and ease bloating, often simply as a tea made from the fresh plant. It has been used to support circulation, and the juice applied to inflamed skin. Ayurveda makes use of it as well. None of that is why you should cook with it — but it is a reminder that the herbs we treat as garnish were, for most of history, treated as medicine.

Chervil does not tolerate direct sun and will not take heat. Where we live in France the summers are simply too hot for it, which is why we grow chervil in pots on the windowsill; keep the soil moist but not soaking. It is an annual and needs re-seeding every season.
Fresh vs dried? Fresh always — dried chervil has almost no flavour left in it. And remember it will lose some of what it has during cooking, so add it at the very last moment.

Chevril tastes divine, has a host of health benefits and may help you look younger and healthier.  What’s not to like?