What is lovage used for in cooking?
In modern culinary usage, lovage is most often added to soups, stocks, stews, and meat dishes. Just like celery, lovage laves and stems can be used in a dish, either whole or chopped. It has a much stronger flavour than celery, however. Also known as sea parsley, the leaves and stem of the lovage plant add an intense celery-like flavour to soups, stews and stocks or pork and poultry dishes. It can also be used to enhance the flavour of potato dishes. Potatoes love lovage: this celery-like garden herb is a match made in heaven with new potatoes.Lovage Seeds, also known as Ajwain, Ajowan Caraway, Bishop’s Weed and Carom. All different names but all the same flavour. Lovage Seeds smell like Oregano but taste like Thyme with a Cumin texture but the complexity of flavours and aromas make it a perfect addition to your stocks, soups and even vinegars and salads.
What is the medicinal use of lovage?
Lovage has long been used in traditional medicine, particularly as carminative, digestive, diuretic, expectorant, antispasmodic and diaphoretic. In Iranian folk medicine, lovage is used for the treatment of several gastrointestinal, nervous and rheumatic disorders. Lovage is used for kidney damage in people with diabetes (diabetic nephropathy), indigestion, kidney stones, cough, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses. The chemicals in lovage might increase water loss through urination, and decrease spasms.Lovage root is high in vitamin K, calcium, and vitamin C, and contains a good amount of potassium and magnesium. It also offers a significant amount of the flavonoid known as quercetin, which can help with pain reduction and inflammation, lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, and ease skin irritations.