Chervil, Where have you been all my life?

[oxbowfarm]

I know chervil is not a new herb, but it is a new one for us and for the farm. I'd read it did very well in the cold, one blurb I read online described it as "the winter herb" so I decided to try growing some to overwinter in the hoophouse for winter market.

Never having grown it or eaten it before I just worked up the ground and seeded it with the Planet JR with the shoe all the way up so the seed just dropped on the ground. The planting instructions said that it required light to germinate and to avoid covering the seed.

We got a pretty decent stand, but I seeded it a bit late and it wasn't full sized going into winter. We didn't really start harvesting it till February.

I'm in love with it. It's fabulously winter hardy, never even got the slightest hint of frostbite when all the hoophouse parsley turned yellow. It started growing vigorously in Feb even though we've had a cold winter and early spring. It also tastes delicious, we've been experimenting with using it a lot so we can recommend things to customers. I would describe the flavor as licorice mixed with sweet carrot. Its has a texture similar to curly parsley but more crisp and tender IMO. So far we've gotten three cuttings off the fall planted chervil and we've made three plantings in the hoophouse this spring so far.

For the spring plantings I'm not using the Planet Jr. but just creating a shallow furrow with a marker board and sprinkling the seed into it. Then I just water it in without covering the seed. So far we've had fantastic germination in the first two plantings.

Another fun aspect is how it perfumes the hoophouses. When you walk into the house with the fall planting you get this intense blast of licorice scent. It's very appealing.

It also has begun selling briskly at market for us. The first market we brought it to we brought the majority home, but we've sold out last two weeks! It's a great addition to the early spring and winter market table, maybe the fall table too, we need to do some more experimenting with it. The variety we've been using is Vertissimo from Johnny's but I imagine they are all very similar.

Highly recommended to those not on the Chervil bandwagon.

[ferdzy]

I used to use a lot of dried chervil in cooking, but it's hard to find. I've thought of growing it but in general the herbs are something we tend to do badly with through lack of time and energy. I'll have to give it a try though.

I've heard it can be hard to germinate - seed needs to be very fresh?

[billw]

It makes a nice winter salad green. Helps to balance out all the kale and cabbage.

[steev]

Pesto?

[templeton]

I can't remember when i sowed mine - 4 or 5 years ago? Let it go to seed, and it comes up like clockwork every autumn. Doesn't like heat much.
I have collected seed in the past, but never had to resow it.
T

[ottawagardener]

You've just made me want to retry chervil. I was kind of meh about it when I first grew it but if it out winters parsley, it's back on my planting plan.

[bunkie]

cool telsing! we're going to try growing it for the first time this year. thanks for the thread oxbow!

[12540dumont]

Darn, too late for me. Next year! (Ox, I want to send you a few roots of this turnip rooted parsley....let it go to seed). PM me.

[trixtrax]

If anyone wants some, pm me. I'll send you a heaping tablespoonful. I made a grex last year of 5 Northern samples of chervil, from US, Canada, and Europe. Chervil is chervil, sure, but I wanted to invigorate a population with a bit of diversity. For the record, I noticed no differences between any of the types in terms of leaf shape and only slight difference in flavour. For the grex, I purposely oversowed the seed late and didn't weed. So, these are seeds of the hardiest survivors. I will also happily accept seeds of whatever you happen to have that will work up here

[oxbowfarm]

So far I've had zero trouble getting it to germinate. I expect that might change as the weather warms up. I've been planting it in the hoophouses which are extremely humid environments this time of year, so that may help seed that stays on the surface to germinate effectively before it dries out. It's been a surprising process, I sprinkle the seed in the furrow and water it in, you can see the seed on the surface in the mud for several days and then most of it seems to disappear with repeated waterings, then it all germinates at once about a week later. The instructions for growing it I followed stated that it needed light to germinate, which usually means it has some kind of phytochrome-based germination inhibition system. With lettuces that have the phytochrome germination, it is counteracted by low germination temperatures, so that may have something to do with it too?

[raymondo]

Got to try this now!

[richardw]

Ive never tried it before too but won a packet of it for winning first prize at a local agricultural show,good to read what you guys know about growing it,now we are heading into winter i better get off me bum and sow it in my tunnlehouse

[nathanp]

What do you guys use it for seasoning with? I have some growing now that reseeded itself.

[oxbowfarm]

Chopped and tossed on top of scrambled eggs is probably the way I've been eating it most often.

We also found a recipe for chervil butter, which is just chopped chervil folded into a compound butter. That is fantastic over steamed carrots or fresh fish.

We really haven't fully explored what you can do with it culinary-wise yet.

[ferdzy]

Toss a little into green salads, too.