Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Sweet Cicely along with all the Sweet Cicely containing recipes presented on this site, with 6 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Sweet Cicely as a major wild food ingredient.

Sweet Cicely, Myrrhis odorata (also known as Anise) belongs to the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae, carrot) family and represents the sole species in the genus Myrrhis. It is a tall herbaceous perennial plant, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves are finely divided, feathery, up to 50 cm long. The flowers are white, 2-4 mm across, produced in large umbels. The seeds are slender, 15-25 mm long and 3-4 mm broad.

The plant is generally easy to identify as it possesses a strong anise-like scent that derives from the light green leaves (however, as this plant belongs to the same family as fool's parsley and hemlock unless you're absolutely certain of the plan't identity please grow from commercial seed). Sweet Cicely fruits early and by the start of summer it has already produced relatively big green fruit with their characteristically taste of liquorice (the flavour of the fruit is much stronger than the leaves).

The young leaves can be used in salads and soups (they have a pleasant, sweet, aniseedy flavour); but the true marvel of this herb is it's true sweetness. Indeed, it has the ability to sweeten dishes so much that only half the usual amount of sugar is needed. As a result Sweet Cicely would have been invaluable to prehistoric cooks as it would have allowed for the conservation of honey during cooking. As well as the leaves and fruit the roots of the plant can be candied (in a similar manner to angelica) they can also be boiled or roasted as you would celery or parsnips.

Cicely leaves can be cooked with vegetable and they are an important ingredient in traditional bouquet garnis. The leaves can also be dried for later use. Note that you should prevent the plant from flowering if you require the leaves for culinary use, as the leaves of the flowering plant lose their flavour. A tea can be made from an infusion of the fresh or dried leaves.

The seed has a distinct aniseed flavour and can be used whole, crushed or ground as a spice. Eaten raw (whilst still green and before the had, fibrous, coat has formed) the seed makes an excellent natural breath freshener.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants