On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 781

MediterraneanandsouthwestAsia;likedill,it
has fibrous leaf stalks but feathery, tender
leaves. There is one species of fennel,
Foeniculum vulgare, and it comes in three
different forms. The wild subspecies,
piperitum, is sometimes collected from the
countryside in southern Italy and Sicily,
where it’s known as carosella and valued for
its sharpness in meat and fish cooking.
(Fennel now grows wild throughout central
Californiaaswell.)Thecultivatedsubspecies
vulgareisknownassweetfennelthankstoits
far richer content of the phenolic compound
anethole,whichis13timessweeterthantable
sugar, and also gives the characteristic sweet
aroma of anise. And a specialized variety of
sweet fennel, var.azoricum, develops the
enlarged leaf-stalk bases of bulb or Florence
fennel, which is used as an aromatic
vegetable.
Lovage Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a


large westernAsian plant that has aromat-ics
in common with celery and oregano, along
with a sweet, flowery note. It was used in
ancient Greece and Rome and known as
Ligurian celery. Today its large lobed leaves
flavor beef dishes in central Europe, and
tomatosaucesinLiguria.Elsewhereit’slittle
known.

Carrot family anatomy. A leaf of parsley.
Herbs in the carrot family have defensive oil
glandswithintheirleaves,notonthesurfaces.
Theglandsclusteraroundlongcanalsandfill
themwiththeessentialoil.
MitsubaMitsuba,sometimescalledJapanese
parsley, is a native of both Asia and North
A m e r i c a ,Cryptotaenia japonica (or