Sweet Cicely
Myrrhys odorata
Description
Sweet cicely is a very decorative herbaceous perennial, whose leaves, delightfully shaped, closely resemble those of ferns. This hardy herb grows wild in some hilly areas of central and northern Italy. The pleasant aroma of sweet cicely is reminiscent of chervil and anise.
Stem
The stems of sweet cicely are erect, striated, and can reach a metre in height.
Leaves
The leaves of sweet cicely are pinnatisect, about 5 centimetres long, downy on the underside, green with white mottling, late in the season, on the upper surface.
Flowers
Much loved by bees, the flowers of sweet cicely open from spring to summer and are gathered in umbrella-shaped inflorescences.
Exposure
The position sweet cicely likes best is in half shade, but this herb also tolerates sun.
Propagation
Sweet cicely is propagated by seed; the seeds must always be sown in autumn, since they need a few months of cold before they are ready to grow.
Growth
Each clump likes to have a certain amount of space: so it is advisable to leave about half a metre of ground between one plant and the next.
Harvesting
The leaves can be picked at any time, as needed. The root should be dug up in autumn, at the end of the growing season.
Storage
Once dried in the shade, yarrow leaves and flowers are stored in airtight boxes or jars.
Properties
IN THE KITCHEN: All parts of this herb, leaves, seeds and roots, are edible: the leaves are added to salads, soups and omelettes; also to stewed fruit, as they reduce its acidity, and to jams, so that the amount of sugar can be reduced. The leaf of sweet cicely has a sweet, aniseed flavour and is used in place of chervil when a stronger aroma is needed. The unripe seeds, to be eaten raw in fruit salads, should be gathered in late spring while they are still green; the ripe ones are added whole to apple-cake mixture. The root is peeled, chopped and served raw to accompany fried foods, or boiled, sliced and served cold with a drizzle of oil, like any vegetable.
Beauty
Yarrow counteracts the skin's tendency to redden and couperose; to obtain a toner with these properties, leave yarrow flowers and leaves to infuse for half an hour in half a litre of water, soak a piece of gauze in the infusion and then apply it to the skin of the face for a quarter of an hour. IN THE HOME: The fresh, tender seeds of sweet cicely, crushed in a mortar, yield a fragrant substance to be put on a cloth and rubbed onto furniture: it in fact makes an excellent wax for treating wood.
Health
A decoction of sweet cicely root, at 3%, taken in a quantity of three glasses a day, promotes diuresis.
Curiosity
The name mirride is a clear reference to the properties of the plant, since it derives from the Greek word myron, which means “perfume”. The leaves of sweet cicely in fact have a pleasant aniseed aroma, of myrrh and musk. Catmint