Yarrow ✦

Achillée millefeuille

What it is

The genus honours Achilles, who legend has it packed the leaf into his soldiers' wounds at Troy; millefolium counts the thousand fine divisions of a single frond. Brewers bittered ale with it for centuries before hops took the job, and it still carries that double register — tarragon first, then a clean bitterness underneath.

In the kitchen

Use only the young feathery leaves, finely chopped, and no more than a teaspoon for four — mature leaves turn medicinally bitter. Fold it in raw, into soured cream or soft butter; heat flattens the anise and leaves the bitterness alone on the plate.

Goes with

Butter Cream Cucumber Trout Potato Lemon

In season alongside

Wild fennel fronds Alexanders Angelica Ashitaba Basil Epazote

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