I saw chervil in a recipe. What is it?

Chervil, or Anthriscus cerefolium, is an annual that many cultivate as a culinary herb. It is in the parsley family.

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 cooking. 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.

In appearance, it resembles flat-leaved parsley, but its leaves are more finely dissected and paler green. Its aroma and taste suggest the flavors of tarragon and fennel, although it’s much less potent than the latter.

Although its role often is usurped by the more widely available French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), chervil’s unique flavor earns it a place in every gourmet’s kitchen. Along with tarragon, chives and parsley, chervil is a component of fines herbes, a blend indispensable to French cooking.

Chervil stars in béarnaise sauce, a variation of hollandaise. Besides these traditional uses, chervil also is an excellent complement to any mild food. Use the chopped leaves to enhance sole and other white fish, chicken, eggs and zucchini, as well as salads, sauces and soups. Its flavor is best fresh; if you plan to use it in cooked dishes, add it near the end of the cooking process.

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.

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I saw chervil in a recipe. What is it?

I saw it in a recipe. Apparenlty it's an herb but how does it taste, look? Where does it come from?

Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. Sometimes called garden chervil, it is used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.

Picture: http://www.gardensablaze.com/Chervil11.jpg

Chervil Herb Substitute:

Fresh Parsley Leaves, 1 tbsp, chopped

Fresh 'Fines Herbes', 1 tbsp (equal portions of parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives)

Fresh Fennel Leaves, 1 tbsp, chopped

Fresh Tarragon, 1 tbsp, chopped

A substitute for chervil may be either fresh or dried. Both these substitutes have been mentioned here. As mentioned earlier, they may not match up to the unique flavours that chervil lends to the final product, but will definitely add a good flavour to the food.

What Is Chervil