🌿 Sweet cicely

Sweet cicely is a graceful, ferny perennial with lacy foliage, frothy white flowers in spring, and a sweet aniseed flavour. It thrives in shade, where many herbs will not grow, and is among the earliest herbs to appear in spring.

The leaves have a natural sweetness that can reduce the sugar needed when cooking sharp fruit such as rhubarb and gooseberries. It self-seeds readily, so deadhead if you do not want it everywhere.

Varieties to try

Sweet cicely (the only form)

Sow fresh seed in September to October, 1 cm deep, as it needs a cold spell to germinate, and may take until spring. Stored seed is slow and unreliable, so it is easier to buy a young plant or divide an established clump in autumn.

Plant in partial or full shade in moist, fertile soil, 60–90 cm apart. Water until established.

Top tips

• Sow seed fresh in autumn.
• Divide clumps.
• Choose moist shade.
• Allow room.

Little care is required. Water in dry spells and mulch with compost in spring. Cut back after flowering to produce a second flush of fresh leaves. Deadhead before seeds ripen to prevent self-seeding.

Powdery mildew may appear in dry weather. Divide every few years in autumn. The plant dies down in winter and reappears in March.

Top tips

• Cut back after flowering.
• Deadhead to limit seeding.
• Divide in autumn.
• Mulch in spring.

Watch out for

Powdery mildewSlugs on young plantsSelf-seedingDrought stress in dry soil

Pick young leaves from March, before flowering, when they are mildest and sweetest. Green seeds, picked in early summer, can be eaten raw as a nibble or added to salads and desserts; they taste of aniseed.

Roots can be dug in autumn and boiled as a vegetable, though plants are usually left. Cut back after flowering to renew the leaves.

Sweet cicely is one of the first herbs to emerge in spring, so you can harvest it when little else is ready. The big hollow stems can also be sliced and added to stewed fruit, and the large black seeds can be cracked and added to ice cream.

Top tips

• Pick young leaves.
• Eat the green seeds.
• Cut back after flowering.
• Use fresh.

Add chopped leaves to stewed rhubarb, gooseberries, apples and plums to reduce the sugar needed, or use in salads, soups and omelettes. The aniseed flavour is mild. The green seeds are a delicious sweet nibble.

Leaves lose flavour when dried. Use fresh. The plant stays green into winter in mild areas.

Top tips

• Cook with rhubarb to cut sugar.
• Nibble the green seeds.
• Use fresh.
• Add to omelettes.