🌿 Chervil

Chervil is a delicate, lacy herb with a gentle aniseed-and-parsley flavour, one of the classic French fines herbes. It thrives in cool, damp, shady conditions where many herbs struggle, and is a good choice for a north-facing windowsill, a shady border or a pot beside the back door.

Chervil bolts quickly in hot, dry weather, so is best grown in spring and autumn, and in partial shade in summer. Sowing a little every few weeks keeps the supply constant, and in mild areas it will crop through winter.

Varieties to try

Common chervil (the usual seed packet)Brussels Winter (hardy, for autumn sowing)Curled chervil (frilly leaves)

Sow thinly on the surface from March to September, pressing seed in lightly and barely covering it, as light helps germination. Sow where it is to grow, since chervil has a taproot and dislikes transplanting. Rows 20 cm apart, or scatter across a pot. Seedlings appear in 2–3 weeks.

In summer, sow in a shady position and keep the soil moist, since heat and dryness make the plants bolt. A sowing in late August or September under a cloche gives leaves through the winter. Sow a short row every three weeks for a steady supply.

Top tips

• Sow where it will grow.
• Barely cover the seed.
• Sow every 3 weeks.
• Choose shade in summer.

Keep the soil constantly moist and the plants shaded from hot sun. Thin seedlings to 15–20 cm apart. Chervil needs little feeding in reasonable soil. Remove flower buds as they form to extend leaf production, although allowing one or two plants to seed will give you self-sown seedlings.

Slugs are the main pest and love the tender leaves, so use traps or wool pellets around young plants. Aphids and mildew occasionally appear. Mulch the soil to keep the roots cool and moist.

Top tips

• Keep moist and shaded.
• Remove flower buds.
• Protect from slugs.
• Let a plant self-seed.

Watch out for

SlugsAphidsPowdery mildewBolting in heat

Start picking leaves 6–8 weeks after sowing, when plants are about 10 cm tall, cutting the outer leaves first. Pick regularly to keep plants leafy and delay flowering. Leaves are best before the plant flowers.

Plants usually give 3–4 weeks of picking before bolting, which is why successional sowing matters. The leaves have the finest flavour when young and fresh, and lose it quickly after cutting.

Top tips

• Pick outer leaves first.
• Pick young leaves.
• Pick regularly to delay flowering.
• Cut fresh as needed.

Chervil is best fresh and added at the end of cooking, because heat destroys its delicate flavour. Chop into omelettes, soups, salads, potato dishes, fish sauces, butters and chicken dishes. It is a key part of fines herbes, with parsley, chives and tarragon.

Fresh chervil wilts fast, so use it within a day or two of picking, with stems in water in the fridge. Drying loses nearly all the flavour; freeze chopped in ice-cube trays or make chervil butter to keep it.

Top tips

• Add at the end of cooking.
• Freeze in butter or ice cubes.
• Use in fines herbes.
• Don't dry it.