Lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch)

Lovage flowers

Lovage: Ripening fruits

Lovage plant

Ripening lovage umbel

Lovage is a traditional spice in Southern Europe whose usage dates back to antiquity; indeed, lovage was one of the most prominent flavours in Roman cookery, and people interested in recreating the foods of Old Rome are well advised to find a continuous supply of that herb, or grow it themselves, instead of substituting it by something else (e.g., celery), as some books suggest. See also silphion for a fuller account of the flavours in ancient Rome.

Today, lovage is still common in Southern and Central Europe, but it has not found many friends outside this region. Its characteristic flavour fits well to sour pickles and aromatic vinegars (see dill); furthermore, beef stock is commonly flavoured with lovage leaves (see parsley on German versions of bouquet garni). In Germany, lovage is a popular flavouring for potato dishes.

In Italy, lovage usage culminates in Liguria, where of old the spice is cultivated (see above). Lovage is chiefly needed for tomato sauces, often in combination with oregano; it may be efficiently combined with rue.

The contemporary distribution of lovage, encompassing the Alps and Southern Germany, can be traced back to the early Middle Ages: At the begin of the 9.th century, Charlemagne wrote an edict called Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii Caroli Magni in which he defined a large number of administrative, legal and particularly agricultural rules for the Frankish empire. At the end of the document, we find a large list of culinary and medical herbs that should be grown in every Imperial garden.

All the capitularia were written in a sort of Medieval Latin, which was the only language spoken and understood all over the empire. Move the mouse over the Latin text to see the translation of the plant names (HTML 4.0, CSS level 1).

Volumus quod in horto omnes herbas habeant, id est lilium, rosas, fenigrecum, costum, salviam, rutam, abrotanum, cucumeres, pepones, cucurbitas, fasiolum, ciminum, ros marinum, careium, cicerum italicum, squillam, gladiolum, dragantea, anesum, coloquentidas, solsequiam, ameum, silum, lactucas, git, eruca alba, nasturtium, parduna, puledium, olisatum, petresilinum, apium, levisticum, savinam, anetum, fenicolum, intubas, diptamnum, sinape, satureiam, sisimbrium, mentam, mentastrum, tanazitam, neptam, febrefugiam, papaver, betas, vulgigina, mismalvas, id est althaea, malvas, carvitas, pastenacas, adripias, blidas, ravacaulos, caulos, uniones, britlas, porros, radices, ascalonicas, cepas, alia, warentiam, cardones, fabas maiores, pisos mauriscos, coriandrum, cerfolium, lacteridas, sclareiam. Et ille hortulanus habeat super domum suam Iovis barbam.

De arboribus volumus quod habeant pomarios, diversi generis, prunarios, diversi generis, sorbarios, mespilarios, castanearios, persicarios, diversi generis, cotoniarios, avellanarios, amandalarios, morarios, lauros, pinos, ficus, nucarios, ceresarios diversi generis.

The paragraph closes with some more lines concerning different breeds of apple trees. Some plants from the above list cannot be unambiguously identified botanically; see also pomegranate about the difficulties in identifying plants mentioned in the bible. Due to its enumerative nature, it is difficult to render the text in an easy-to-read way, especially if alternative plant identifications shall also be indicated. The following is a compromise aimed for improving readability; move the mouse over the text to see modern botanical names (HTML 4.0, CSS level 1).

Lovage flower clusters

We want that they should have all herbs in the garden, this is flag (?), dog rose, fenugreek, costmary, sage, rue, southernwood, cucumbers, musk melons, bottle gourds, cowpea (?), cumin, rosemary, caraway, chickpea, squill, gladiolus, snakeweed (?, ?), anise, cococynth (?), heliotrope (?), baldmoney (?) sermountain, lettuce (?), nigella, rocket, watercress, burdock, pennyroyal, angelica (?), parsley, celery, lovage, savine, dill, fennel, chicory, burningbush, mustard, savory, water mint, spearmint, horse mint, tansy, catmint, centaury (?), poppy, Swiss chard, hazelwort, all mallows, that is marsh mallow and common mallow, carrots, parsnips, orache, amaranth, turnip, cabbage, onions (?), chives, leeks, radish, shallots, onions, garlic, madder, fuller's teasel (?), broad bean, peas, coriander, chervil, caper spurge, clary sage. And each gardener shall have roof houseleek (Jupiter's beard) growing on the top of his house.

Of the trees, we wish that they should have apples (?) of various kinds, plums of various kinds, sorbs, medlars, chestnuts, peaches of various kinds, quinces, hazelnuts, almonds, mulberries, bay laurel, stone pines, fig, walnuts, sweet cherries (?) of various kinds.

Young lovage plants

The Capitulare de villis helped greatly in the unification of agricultural technologies, and it provided for a superregional distribution of cultigens and the know-how associated with them. The plant list of Charlemagne kept its “canonical character” during the whole Middle Ages, up to the 18.th century: The “plants of Charlemagne” were grown in monasteries of suitable climate.

Many culinary herbs of Mediterranean origin became known, by means of the Capitulare, in the more Northern parts of Central and West Europe; some of them could establish themselves permanently in those cooler regions, where their growing may need more care, or more breeding effort. Examples include lovage, parsley and celery; also southernwood could be named, as it has survived in German or British peasants' gardens to this day. Other Carolingian cultigens, however, were abandoned for climatic reasons (e.g., almond) or got suppressed by others (e.g., cumin).

Although the fruits of lovage can be used as a spice, they are (to my knowledge) not traded. Sometimes, however, ajwain fruits are mislabeled as “lovage seed”.