Lovage - Definition and Overview

Lovage (Levisticum officinale) is a plant, the leaves of which are used to flavor food, especially in South European cuisine. It is a tall (3 to 5') perennial that vaguely resembles celery in appearance and in flavor. Lovage also sometimes gets referred to as smallage, but this is more properly used for celery.

The fruit of the lovage plant can be used as a spice, but what appears in the trade as lovage seed is usually ajwain, not lovage.

The root of lovage is used as a diuretic

External links

• Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages - Lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch) (http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/Levi_off.html)