An herb is a plant whose leaves, seeds, or flowers are used for flavoring food or in medicine. Other uses of herbs include cosmetics, dyes, and perfumes. The name derives from the Latin word herba, meaning “green crops.”

Chervil, or Anthriscus cerefolium, is an annual that many cultivate as a culinary herb. It is in the parsley family. A related plant, Chaerophyllum bulbosum, is grown for its edible root.

History. Chervil is new to many who are not familiar with it for reasons described below, but it has been around for a long time. Aristophanes, a playwright of Ancient Greece, mentioned chervil in an early comedy, while Pliny, the Roman naturalist and scholar, referred to its use in cooking and medicine.

Description. Chervil grows to a height of 12 to 26 inches (30 to 66 cm). Its small white flowers bloom from May through July.

Gardening. Chervil prefers light shade. It is best to serial plant in order to maintain a ready supply. Chervil can be grown in a window box, and it will over-winter if the temperature stays at 45°F (7°C) or higher.

Chervil is best used fresh. To store fresh chervil, wrap it in damp paper towels and plastic and keep it in the crisper or hydrator in the refrigerator. It can only be used for two to three days. Its short life span means that it is difficult to find for sale, and this is one reason that it is not well known.

Food and Other Uses. Chervil has a lemon-anise flavor that is lost with long coking. Because of this fragility, it should be added at the very end of preparation of cooked foods or used as a garnish. There is not much use for dried chervil.

Found in soups and sauces, and also used in fish and egg dishes, chervil is a fundamental salad ingredient in southern France and northern Italy. In fact, chervil is one of the typical greens in French mesclun, along with arugula and endive. It is also included in fines herbes mixtures, along with tarragon, chives, and parsley. The chervil flowers are used in salads as well.

Young chervil, along with baby basil, arugula, and others, are part of a class of items called microgreens or microherbs that are a popular garnish, topping, and accent, replacing parsley in some milieux. They are available from specialty grocers and farmers' markets.