Anthriscus cerefolium.
An old and delicate herb, native to the Caucasus and the Middle East, spread across Europe by the Romans, who already cultivated it in Pliny the Elder's day. In the Middle Ages, Charlemagne ordered its planting in royal and monastic gardens (the Capitulare De Villis), and it has held its place ever since in the French culinary canon, particularly in refined cooking, where it features among the famous classic fines herbes (with parsley, chives and tarragon) — a blend that has perfumed omelettes, sauces and terrines for centuries. Chervil is often described as "gourmet parsley," but that does it slim justice: its perfume has something more subtle, more floral, with a delicate anise note that brings it closer to fennel and tarragon than to parsley.
An annual plant 30 to 60 cm tall, with light, airy foliage recalling a miniature fern, dotted in summer with umbels of tiny white flowers. The flavour is fragile and volatile — to be used exclusively raw or added at the very end of cooking, never boiled or fried (heat instantly destroys its aromas). Indispensable to classic béarnaise sauce, to gribiche sauce, to the omelette aux fines herbes, to spring soup with chervil and young peas, snipped on poached salmon or soft-boiled eggs, in a vinaigrette for a baby-greens salad. It's also traditionally the herb of Holy Thursday and of Lenten cooking in several European traditions — one of the first fresh herbs of the spring garden, which once made it a symbol of rebirth after winter.
Grower's tip: Chervil doesn't like heat and hates being moved. Direct sowing only, in place as soon as the soil can be worked (April in Québec), then new windows every 3-4 weeks through mid-spring. Resume sowings from mid-August for the fall harvest, which is often the most beautiful. A rare bonus among herbs: it frankly prefers part shade — a spot in the light shade of a tree or against an east-facing wall suits it better than full sun, which makes it bolt in a few weeks. Harvest by regularly cutting outer stems, as with parsley. No drying possible — chervil loses almost all its perfume once dried. Freezing it snipped into a butter cube is a far better option for winter storage.
- Open-pollinated. Annual. Insect-pollinated; rarely crosses with other umbellifers in the home garden.
- Height: 30 to 60 cm.
- Maturity: 60 days for full harvest; first usable leaves from 4 to 5 weeks.
- Exposure: part shade preferred; full sun acceptable only in spring and fall.
- Rich, fresh, well-drained soil. Thin to 15-20 cm.
- Direct-sow as soon as the soil can be worked (April in Québec), in successive rows through late May. Resume sowings from mid-August. Self-seeds readily once established.
