Chervil

Garden chervil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Anthriscus
Species:	A. cerefolium
Binomial name
	Anthriscus cerefolium; (L.) Hoffm.
Synonyms
	Anthriscus chaerophyllus St.-Lag.; Anthriscus longirostris Bertol.; Anthriscus sativa Besser; Anthriscus trachysperma Rchb. ex Nyman; Cerefolium sativum Besser; Cerefolium sylvestre Besser; Cerefolium trichospermum Besser; Chaerefolium cerefolium (L.) Schinz; Chaerefolium trichospermum (Schinz & Thell.) Stankov; Chaerophyllum cerefolium (L.) Crantz; Chaerophyllum nemorosum Lag. ex DC.; Chaerophyllum sativum Lam.; Myrrhodes cerefolium (L.) Kuntze; Scandix cerefolium L.; Selinum cerefolium (L.) E.H.L.Krause;

Chervil (/ˈtʃɜːrˌvɪl/; Anthriscus cerefolium), sometimes called French parsley or garden chervil (to distinguish it from similar plants also called chervil), is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. It was formerly called myrhis due to its volatile oil with an aroma similar to the resinous substance myrrh.^[3] It is commonly used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.

Name

The name chervil is from Anglo-Norman, from Latin chaerephylla or choerephyllum, meaning "leaves of joy";^[4] the Latin is formed, as from an Ancient Greek word χαιρέφυλλον (chairephyllon).^[5]^[6]

Description

The plants grow to 40–70 cm (16–28 in), with tripinnate leaves that may be curly. The small white flowers form small umbels, 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) across. The fruit is about 1 cm long, oblong-ovoid with a slender, ridged beak.^[7]

Distribution and habitat

Fresh chervil

A member of the Apiaceae, chervil is native to the Caucasus but was spread by the Romans through most of Europe, where it is now naturalised.^[7] It is also grown frequently in the United States, where it sometimes escapes cultivation. Such escape can be recognized, however, as garden chervil is distinguished from all other Anthriscus species growing in North America (i.e., A. caucalis and A. sylvestris) by its having lanceolate-linear bracteoles and a fruit with a relatively long beak.^[8]

Cultivation

Transplanting chervil can be difficult, due to the long taproot.^[9] It prefers a cool and moist location; otherwise, it rapidly goes to seed (also known as bolting).^[9] It is usually grown as a cool-season crop, like lettuce, and should be planted in early spring and late fall or in a winter greenhouse. Regular harvesting of leaves also helps to prevent bolting.^[9] If plants bolt despite precautions, the plant can be periodically re-sown throughout the growing season, thus producing fresh plants as older plants bolt and go out of production.^[10]

Chervil grows to a height of 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm), and a width of 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm).^[9]

Uses

Culinary

Chervil is used, particularly in France, to season poultry, seafood, young spring vegetables (such as carrots), soups, and sauces. More delicate than parsley, it has a faint taste of liquorice or aniseed.^[11]^[12]

Chervil is one of the four traditional French fines herbes, along with tarragon, chives, and parsley, which are essential to French cooking.^[13] Unlike the more pungent, robust herbs such as thyme and rosemary, which can take prolonged cooking, the fines herbes are added at the last minute, to salads, omelettes, and soups.^[14]^[15]

Chemical constituents

Essential oil obtained via water distillation of wild Turkish Anthriscus cerefolium was analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry identifying 4 compounds: methyl chavicol (83.10%), 1-allyl-2,4-dimethoxybenzene (15.15%), undecane (1.75%) and β-pinene (<0.01%).^[16]

Horticulture

According to some, slugs are attracted to chervil and the plant is sometimes used to bait them.^[17]

Health

Seed of chervil

Chervil has had various uses in folk medicine. It was claimed to be useful as a digestive aid, for lowering high blood pressure, and, infused with vinegar, for curing hiccups.^[9] Besides its digestive properties, it is used as a mild stimulant.^[11]

Chervil has also been implicated in "strimmer dermatitis", another name for phytophotodermatitis, due to spray from weed trimmers and similar forms of contact. Other plants in the family Apiaceae can have similar effects.^[18]

References

^ Gen. Pl. Umbell.: 41 (1814)
^ "Anthriscus cerefolium (L.) Hoffm". Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
^ Farooqi, A.A.; Srinivasappa, K.N. (2012). "Chervil". Handbook of Herbs and Spices: 268–274. doi:10.1533/9780857095688.268. ISBN 9780857090409.
^ "Chervil, One of the Best & Least Appreciated Herbs". The Art of Eating. 1 October 2014.
^ Donnegan, James (3 August 2018). "O new greek and english lexicon". Cowie.
^ "ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ".
^ ^a ^b Vaughan, J.G.; Geissler, C.A. (1997). The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-854825-6.
^ Dickinson, Richard; Royer, France (2014). Weeds of North America (1st ed.). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 21–33. ISBN 978-0-226-07644-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e McGee, Rose Marie Nichols; Stuckey, Maggie (2002). The Bountiful Container. Workman Publishing.
^ "How to Prevent Cool Season Crops from Bolting". GrowVeg. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b Gualtiero Simonetti (1990). Stanley Schuler (ed.). Simon & Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices. Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 978-0-671-73489-3.
^ "Chervil". BBC Good Food.
^ Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. I p 18.
^ Peter, K. V. (Ed.). (2012). Handbook of herbs and spices (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Woodhead Publishing.
^ Biggs, Matthew; McVicar, Jekka; Flowerdew, Bob (2016). The New Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (1st ed.). United States, Canada: Firefly Books Ltd. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-77085-798-8.
^ Baser, K. H.C.; Ermin, N.; Demirçakmak, B. (July 1998). "The Essential Oil of Anthriscus cerefolium (L.) Hoffm. (Chervil) Growing Wild in Turkey". Journal of Essential Oil Research. 10 (4): 463–464. doi:10.1080/10412905.1998.9700944.
^ Fern Marshall Bradley; Barbara W. Ellis; Deborah L. Martin (2 February 2010). "Chervil is irresistible to slugs". The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease. Harmony/Rodale. p. 363. ISBN 9781605291796.
^ McGovern, Thomas W; Barkley, Theodore M (1998). "Botanical Dermatology". The Electronic Textbook of Dermatology. 37 (5). Internet Dermatology Society. Section Phytophotodermatitis. doi:10.1046/j.1365-4362.1998.00385.x. PMID 9620476. S2CID 221810453. Retrieved 23 October 2018.