Ground elder ✦

Égopode (herbe aux goutteux)

What it is

Its Latin name podagraria means gout: monastery gardens grew it as a poultice for the swollen joint, and the French herbe aux goutteux kept the memory long after the medicine was dropped. Gardeners now count it near-impossible to remove, since any fragment of rhizome left behind rebuilds the colony.

In the kitchen

Take only the glossy folded leaflets, before the plant flowers — after that it turns soapy and does not come back. Treat it as a parsley with celery in it: chopped raw at the end, or wilted a minute in butter.

Goes with

Potato Butter Egg Sorrel Nettle Lemon

In season alongside

Alexanders Ashitaba Blackcurrant leaf Fuki-no-tō (butterbur flower bud) Garlic chives Mugwort

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