• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Peasant's Daughter logo

  • About
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • BBQ
    • Cheesemaking
    • Mediterranean
    • Seafood
    • Wild Game
  • Homesteading
  • Farmhouse Restoration
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Homesteading
  • Farmhouse Restoration
  • Life + Stories
  • Contact
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Gardening

    You Need To Add Lovage to Your Stocks, Sauces, Risottos

    Published: Oct 16, 2020 · Modified: Feb 21, 2022 by The Peasant's Daughter · This post may contain affiliate links · Published under: Posted Under: Gardening, Soup of the Week

    a bunch of fresh lovage on napkin

    Lovage is unfortunately not well known in North America, but it's one of those culinary herbs that you really should consider because it adds something to soups, stocks, sauces, and risottos that you can't get anywhere else. 

    a bunch of fresh lovageThis is my personal plea for lovage, the forgotten herb.

    Forgotten by myself too in fact.

    Just this past summer, I picked some fresh growing lovage in my community garden allotment and the scent was like a punch in the gut.

    Memories came flooding back that suddenly made perfect sense. And no I'm not being dramatic.

    The soups of my youth that my mother would prepare in Croatia that I just assumed I couldn't replicate here ) for no real logical reason) — it was lovage that was the missing ingredient.

    Lovage.

    I was labouring to recreate something that was impossible without this key ingredient.

    It is similar in scent and taste to celery and celery salt crossed with parsley. But it's not the same. It is much more intense. There is another deeper flavour lurking behind the surface that adds something magical to soups, stocks, bone broths, sauces, risottos etc.

    I called my mother and asked her why she had been keeping this herb from me — I didn't even know what name to call it. The English word lovage meant nothing to her.

    She was confused. I was confused. Finally, I got through to her after saying "the thing that tastes kinda like salty roasted celery but looks like parsley!" several times.

    In the Croatian language, lovage is called ljupčac.

    (The J in the Croatian language, is always pronounced like a Y, just like in my name, Jana)

    Lovage/ljupčac is also called Vegeta. That last part will be meaningless to you unless you are Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian or Balkan in general, I suppose, but Vegeta seasoning (not to be confused with Dragon Ball Z) is the quintessential seasoning every one of us grew up eating.

    I still use Vegeta, I'm not even really that crazy about it, but it reminds me of my childhood. Every little Balkan kid has a sack of it in the cupboard.

    I guess I can see how lovage tastes sorta kinda similar to Vegeta but lovage is SO much better.

    And my mother hadn't been keeping lovage from me, like some weird secret, she just never could find it here. And we didn't have room on our balcony to grow it from seeds she could have brought back from Croatia.

    Lovage grows pretty big, much bigger than the culinary herbs that we commonly grow.

    Thus lovage was lost to me for years, and now again rediscovered via my little community garden.

    The other missing culinary piece has now also been found — lovage, and I can once again taste those memories every time I have a bowl of soup.

    Which is daily.

    I have never found fresh lovage in a standard grocery store and it's a damn shame. Because your only chances to taste this little wonder will be from growing it yourself or buying it dried in some European grocer.

    You can even find it dried online, although I cannot attest to the quality so don't blame me if this route doesn't work out.

    As for lovage seeds, they are readily available online for your gardening needs.

    I'm going to actually try and grow lovage indoors this winter, but I honestly have no idea if it's possible on a manageable scale. Lovage is BIG. It grows several feet high.

    But I want to try, I need to try.

    And if all else fails, the old Croatian standby:

    So, you got your hands on some lovage?

    How do you use it in these stocks and sauces and soups?

    Well, I suggest you use it much like you would fresh parsley. So add the leaves in the last 20 minutes of cooking, and then garnish with some more just before serving.

    The stem can be sauteed like celery. The roots are also edible and can be used similarly or even in salads.

    Just go slowly at first, lovage is stronger than celery in taste and you don't want to overwhelm anything.

    So have you cooked with lovage or grown it? I'd love to hear from you.

    a bunch of fresh lovage on napkin

    « Fresh Basil Pesto, Pancetta + Parmigiano Pasta
    Halibut In Creamy Turmeric Sauce + Caramelized Onions, Peas + Bok Choy »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Alina says

      June 02, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      I love it, I use it in my soups and stews! I have in my garden, my mother in law brought a small root from Romania and its really big now.

      Reply
      • The Peasant's Daughter says

        July 21, 2021 at 11:31 pm

        How lovely to have something in your garden from so far away!

        Reply
    2. Georgia Gunesch says

      May 16, 2021 at 12:11 pm

      I have a lovage plant in my garden that was revived after i got rid of some trees that were shading it out. I would never have thought to plant it. I have become a huge fan since then. I love using it for a vegan green goddess “dressing/dip” made with cashews and other green herbs from the garden

      Reply
      • The Peasant's Daughter says

        July 21, 2021 at 11:31 pm

        I love that Green Goddess dressing! Lovage would work very well in something like that.

        Reply
    3. Chef Ed says

      May 06, 2021 at 11:27 pm

      Stumbled across your blog while looking for words to describe that haunting je ne sais quoi flavor lurking in lovage that makes it so good and so much more flavorful than celery.

      I wish more people would appreciate that a little bit of lovage can elevate a simple stock or soup to something magical. It’s also why my Bloody Marys taste so good.

      My plant is huge, growing to well over two meters high. I miss it terribly in the winter months when the frost kills it. I’ll freeze some to use this coming winter.

      Lovage is one of my most favorite herbs.

      Reply
      • The Peasant's Daughter says

        July 21, 2021 at 11:30 pm

        I NEVER would have thought to add it to a Bloody Mary/Caesar but now I'm going to have to! Thank you for that idea. I finally planted some lovage from seed this year, we will see how it goes.

        Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Dry-Brined + Smoked Turkey On The Traeger | The Peasant's Daughter says:
      2021-08-22 at 9:51 AM

      […] Use softened butter at room temperature. I like to add maple syrup (or honey), lots of freshly cracked black pepper, sage, rosemary, and lovage — an underrated and underappreciated herb. […]

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Jana! The Peasant's Daughter is a journey through the recipes and stories of the women who came before me. I'm a new mom and new homesteader who left the city life behind for a rural country life of more peace and simplicity. We're renovating an 1860's Victorian farmhouse and I'll be sharing real-food, nutrient-dense recipes (almost) always made from scratch. Follow me along in my new country life as I raise and grow our food, and strive for more freedom and self-sufficiency.

    More about me →

    Popular Recipes & Articles

    • How To Smoke Whole Trout on The Traeger Grill
    • Smoked Maple Salmon Jerky on The Traeger Grill
    • Raising Red Ranger Chickens For Meat {2022 Cost Breakdown}
    • 10 Chicken Breeds That Lay Blue Eggs (With Pictures!)
    • Why I'm No Longer Vegan | The Journey To Recovery
    • Make Sour Milk From Raw Milk | Naturally Fermented Dairy
    • Old Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake Recipe
    • How To Make Perfect Risotto Every Time

    Footer

    Newsletter

    Follow Me

    • Email
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

    Copyright © 2022 The Peasant's Daughter

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok