Spice Pages: Cicely (Myrrhis odorata, Spanish chervil)
- ️Gernot Katzer
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Synonyms
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botanical Scandix odorata Croatian Čehulja Czech Čechřice Danish Spansk kørvel Dutch Roomse kervel, Vaste kervel English Sweet cicely, Anise cicely, Spanish chervil, Sweet chervil, Anise chervil, Garden myrrh, Sweet scented myrrh Esperanto Mirido Estonian Mesiputk Finnish Saksankirveli French Cerfeuil d’Espagne, Cerfeuil musqué, Cerfeuil odorant Gaelic Cos uisge German (Wohlriechende) Süßdolde, Spanischer Kerbel, Myrrhenkerbel Greek (Old) Σέσελις Seselis Hebrew סייסלי מתוק Siseli metuk Hungarian Spanyol turbolya Icelandic Spánarkerfill Italian Cerfoglio di spagna, Felce muschiata, Finocchiella, Mirride odorosa Japanese ミリス, シセリ, スイートシセリ Mirisu, Shiseri, Suito-shiseri Korean 시슬리, 시실리 Sisulli, Sisilli Lithuanian Kvapioji garduoklė Norwegian Spansk kjørvel Polish Marchewnik anyżowy Russian Миррис душистая, Мускатный кервель Mirris dushistaya, Muskatnyj kervel Serbian Чехуља мирисава Čehulja mirisava Slovak Čechrica voňavá Slovenian Dišeči kromač Swedish Spansk körvel, Aniskål 
Cicely leaf and unripe fruits Used plant part Leaves, mostly used fresh. The unripe fruits are a good substitute for anise. Plant family
Apiaceae (parsley family) Sensory quality
Strong fragrance, reminiscent of licorice or anise, sweet taste (particularly, the stem). Both fragrance and taste are strongest in the unripe seeds. See also licorice for sweet spices.
Fruits and leaves of several aromatic plants from the parsley family share their fragrance, which might loosely be called anise-like. This impression is strongest in cicely, but anise as the best known example is only slightly weaker. On the other hand, the fragrance of fennel is slightly less pure. Chervil combines anise fragrance with parsley-like freshness. Remotely similar to anise is dill, whose aroma is nearer to caraway.
Spices with anise flavour are also known from other plant families. The best-known examples are star anise and licorice, furthermore some Thai basil varieties, tarragon and Mexican tarragon. More obscure spices that can be named in this context are Mexican pepper-leaves and some relatives of Sichuan pepper. Main constituents
Cicely leaves contain an essential oil (0.05%), which is rich in the phenylpropanoids anethole (85%) and methyl chavicol.
Sweet cicely flowers at the end of the flowering period 
Cicely (plants with flowers and unripe fruits) The plant is of Western European origin. It is a common garden plant in parts of Western Europe, mainly Scandinavia. Etymology
English cicely goes back to the obscure Greek plant name seselis [σέσελις], which was apparently used as a collective term for a number of umbelliferous herbs including modern genera Seseli, Tordylium and Bupleurum. German Süßdolde sweet umbel refers to both the sweet taste and the umbel-shaped flower cluster.
The botanical genus name Myrrhis derives from Greek myrrhis [μυρρίς], which denotes both an unidentified plant and an aromatic oil from Western Asia; it is probably related to Greek myron [μύρον] balm (see also nutmeg). The scientific species name odoratus is Latin meaning scented.
Comparisons with chervil suggest themselves (e. g., German Myrrhenkerbel myrrh-chervil). Another common motive is Spanish chervil found in many languages of Western Europe, particularly Scandinavia, e. g., Italian cerfoglio di Spagna and Danish Spansk kørvel; this refers to the suspected Western Mediterranean origin of the plant. Some variation includes Dutch Roomse kervel Roman chervil and quite curiously Finnish saksankirveli German chervil. Selected Links
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| Umbel of cicely flowers |
Cicely has only small importance in today’s cooking. Since it is tolerant to cold, it is a useful herb for the inhabitants of Scandinavia for it provides fresh fragrant leaves nearly all over the year, even in extremely cold places like Iceland or the Faroe islands (Føroyar).
Because of the sweet fragrance, cicely fruits are a good substitute for anise, fennel of even licorice; the leaves may be used instead of chervil, although it will probably take some time to get used to their much more dominant aroma. Yet who comes to like the licorice-like taste, will want to combine cicely with the fines herbes of French cuisine (see chives).
In Scandinavia, cicely is common to flavour stewed fruits. Cicely fruits and
stalks may, furthermore, help to save sugar because of their naturally sweet
taste.