Sweet woodruff ✦

Aspérule odorante

What it is

Pick a fresh sprig and it smells of nothing at all — the hay-and-vanilla scent is coumarin, and it forms only as the plant wilts and its cells break down. Germany drinks it as Maiwein on the first of May and also caps how much may legally go into a drink, coumarin in quantity being hard on the liver.

In the kitchen

Wilt it one day before use and no longer; dried past that it goes musty. Three grams of wilted stems to a litre of white wine for half an hour is the classic Maiwein dose, and it must never be boiled.

Goes with

Cream Strawberry Honey Rhubarb Apple White sugar

In season alongside

Ashitaba Blackcurrant leaf Garlic chives Ground elder Seri (Japanese water dropwort) Shepherd’s purse

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