Lovely Lovage

Chickpea and Pasta Soup with Lovage

One of the less widely available herbs, with a yeasty celery smell that reaches out to you, lovage grows up to be something of triffid easily reaching 1.5 to 2 metres when in flower. Because it needs so much space in the garden not many people grow it but it is a wonderful way to flavour soups and stews.


It's a perennial herb, dying back to ground level in winter but quite hardy. At this time of year it's wonderfully leafy and green shooting up quickly. When it flowers later in the summer bees and insects all love it. The seeds can be saved and used like celery seed. You can also use the seeds and root to flavour liqueurs which become fragrant rather than savoury in smell and have an intriguing flavour. If you want to preserve some for winter it's better to freeze chopped leaves in ice cube trays and then bag securely but the elusive smell will only last a few months even in the freezer, quickly turning to hay.

I made a spring soup, still hearty with chickpeas and pasta and packed with vegetables but with vernal lightness from a handful of fresh herbs; lovage, parsley and chives. Lovage will be in plenty of meals from now on.