Yellow gentian root

Racine de gentiane jaune

What it is

A gentian is not worth lifting until it is fifteen or twenty years old, and the root comes out on a two-pronged lever the diggers call the devil’s fork, which on a good day brings up two hundred kilos. The danger is above ground: before it flowers the plant is easily confused with white hellebore, which grows in the same meadows and has poisoned people who believed they were making gentian liqueur.

In the kitchen

Dose it in grams and infuse cold, or at no more than 60 °C for twenty minutes — boiled, gentian gives a harsh tannic bitterness instead of a clean one. Two grams per litre is enough to build a glaze for game, and the bitterness keeps developing for a day after you strain it.

Goes with

Juniper berry Candied orange peel Honey Roe deer Cardamom Lemon Génépi

Also used with

Chinotto

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