Spice Pages: Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
- ️Gernot Katzer
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Synonyms
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botanical Cherifolium cerefolium Arabic مقدونس آفرنجي, مقدونس فرنجي مَقْدُونِسٌ إفْرَنْجِي, مَقْدُونِسٌ فْرَنْج Maqdunis afranji, Maqdunis franji Azeri Dağ keşniş Дағ кешниш Basque Apo perexil Breton Serfilh Bulgarian Азмацуг балдаранолистен, Азмацук обикновен, Див керевиз Azmatsug baldaranolisten, Div kereviz, Azmatsuk obiknoven Catalan Cerfull Chinese
(Cantonese)山蘿蔔 [sāan lòh baahk], 西洋峨參 [sāi yèuhng ngòh sàm], 細葉芹 [sai yihp kàhn] Saan loh baahk, Sai yeuhng ngoh sam, Sai yihp kahn Chinese
(Mandarin)山蘿蔔 [shān luó bo], 西洋峨參 [xī yáng é cān], 細葉芹 [xì yè qín], 茴芹 [huí qín] Shan luo bo, Shan lo po, Xi yang e can, Xi ye qin, Hui qin Coptic ⲁⲣⲉⲥⲫⲓⲗⲟⲛ Aresfilon Croatian Krasuljica, Krbuljica Czech Kerblík třebule Danish Kørvel Dutch Kervel English Garden chervil, French parsley Esperanto Cerefolio Finnish Kirveli, Maustekirveli French Cerfeuil Estonian Aed-harakputk, Harakputk Gaelic Costag German Kerbel, Gartenkerbel, Französische Petersilie Greek Ανθρίσκος, Σκαντζίκι, Φραγκομαϊντανός Anthriskos, Skantziki, Frankomaintanos Greek (Old) Ἄνθρισκον, Ἀνθρίσκιον, Ἀνθρίσκος, Χαιρεφύλλον Anthriskon, Anthriskion, Anthriskos, Chairephyllon Hebrew צ׳ירוויל Chervil Hungarian Turbolya, Zamatos turbolya Icelandic Kerfill Italian Cerfoglio Japanese シャク, チャービル, チャーヴィル Chabiru, Chaviru, Shiyaku Korean 차빌, 챠빌, 쳐빌 Chabil, Chyabil, Chyeobil, Chyobil Latin Cærefolium, Cerifolium Latvian Lapu kārvele Lithuanian Daržinis builis Macedonian Крбулица Krbulica Mongolian Хашилж Hashilzh Norwegian Kjørvel, Hagekjørvel Ossetian Гӕнгӕлы Gaengaely Polish Trybula ogrodowa Portuguese Cerefólio, Cerefolho Provençal Cerfuei, Cherfuei Romanian Asmățui (Asmăţui), Hasmațuchi (Hasmaţuchi) Russian Кервель Kervel Serbian Крбуљица, Красуљица Krbuljica, Krasuljica Slovak Trebuľka voňavá, Trebuľka Slovenian Vrtna krebuljica Spanish Perifollo, Cerafolio Swedish Körvel, Dansk körvel, Trädgårdskörvel Turkish Frenk maydanoz, Frenkmayıdanozu Vietnamese Hồi cần Hoi can Yiddish קערװל, פּעטרישקע־קערװל Kervl, Petrishke-kervl 
Chervil flower cluster and unripe fruits 
Chervil leaf Used plant part Leaves. They are nearly always used fresh, but can be preserved by deep-freezing or by making a pesto-like preparation (see basil). Plant family
Apiaceae (parsley family). Sensory quality
Sweet and aromatic, somewhat intermediate between parsley and anise. On other spices with a similar fragrance, see cicely. Main constituents
The plant contains only minor amounts of essential oil (0.3% in the fresh herb, 0.9% in the seeds); it contains methylchavicol (estragole) and hendecane (undecane). Origin
Probably Southern Europe or the Caucasus region. Chervil became known in the regions north of the Mediterranean by the edict of Charlemagne, Capitulare de villis (see lovage).
Chervil flower cluster with unripe fruits Anthriskos [ἀνθρίσκος] (also anthriskon [ἄνθρισκον] or anthriskion [ἀνθρίσκιον]) is the Greek name of this plant; the species name cerefolium appears to mean leaves like wax and might refer to the bright green colour, but is more possibly a spelling mistake for cherifolium (Greek chairephyllon [χαιρεφύλλον]), the name the Romans used for this plant (Greek chairein [χαίρειν] to delight in and phyllon [φύλλον] leaf, referring to the pleasant aroma of the leaves).
Most names in the contemporary tongues of Western Europe derive from Latin cherifolium, e. g. English chervil, Swedish körvel, Portuguese cerefolho and French cerfeuil. Northern Europeans often call the plant more precisely as garden chervil (Norwegian hagekjørvel), because it is not indigenous and cannot survive in the wild.
Since chervil is used and known mostly in Western Europe, languages of other countries often have no native term for that herb, but use descriptive terms that relate chervil to a more widely known relative, parsley: Arabic maqdunis faranji [مقدونس فرنجي], Kurdish jafari farangi [جافةریی فةرةنگی], Greek frankomaintanos [φραγκομαϊντανός] and Turkish frenk maydanoz all mean Frankish parsley. Even in English, chervil is sometimes referred to as French parsley. To learn about the common etymology of faranji and French, see long coriander.
The Azeri language, however, names chervil not as a variety of parsley but rather as mountain coriander, dağ keşniş. Selected Links
Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Kerbel (rezkonv.de via archive.org) A Pinch of Chervil (www.apinchof.com) Herbs by Linda Gilbert: Chervil Desirable Herb and Spice Varieties: Chervil Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Kerbel (biozac.de)
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| Chervil plant |
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| Flowering chervil (with unripe fruits) |
Chervil is a popular herb in Central and Western Europe; the fresh leaves are chopped and added to soups, salads and fish dishes, much in the same way as parsley or coriander leaves. Herbal vinegar usually contains a few leaves of chervil (see dill for details). Chervil is popular in Germany and appears in the Green Sauce, see borage. See peppermint for an example of chervil usage in Austria.
Chervil is one of the five components of the French fines herbes, a composition of fresh herbs used in France for decoration of cold and warm dishes (see chives). Lastly, fresh leaves frequently appear in bouquet garni (see parsley), although their fragrance does not tolerate long cooking periods very well.
The dried herb is less aromatic than the fresh, but many compositions of the French herbes de Provence contain dried chervil (see lavender).
In North European countries, chervil is often substituted by a related herb, cicely or Spanish chervil, which has a stronger, anise-like aroma.