An umbel candy box all in lace. The sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), this natural candy dispenser, is noted for its anise aroma, arousing the passion of some and the disdain of others, winning unanimous approval for its elegance and ease of maintenance.

Myrrhis, in Greek, refers to the smell, and odorata, in Latin, means “odorous”, a pleonasm that shows how stubborn botanists can be. It has been given, across the ages and regions, revealing names: musk chervil, perpetual chervil, anise chervil, musk fern or even large parsley. As if by magic, sweet cicely illuminates dark woods and gloomy alleys with hundreds of white stars gathered in large umbels that can bloom in the shade, creating a backdrop for the plant painter seeking to highlight subtle nuances or mark contrasts. Like all umbellifers, it contributes to ecological balance by attracting a myriad of useful insects with its multitude of tiny flowers. Only pests and deer seem to resist its charms.

Open your nostrils wide because this smell, on which its scientific name insists, is subtle in the open air. Its name takes on its full meaning in the kitchen, or when caressing a leaf, the nose plunged into the umbels. The sweet cicely can turn more than one child away from convenience store liquorice, an alloy of gelatin, glucose and artificial flavors. Each umbel holds a candy dish of about twenty seeds at the height where sweets are placed on store shelves! Its green seeds, still tender, are real candies with a nutty texture. An explosion of sweet flavor! In cooking, musk chervil stands out as a rare vegetable sugar with an aniseed flavor. Its leaves, easy to dry, can replace part of the sugar in cakes or decorate exceptional pastries with their fine lace. The flavor of the ripe, chocolate-colored seeds diffuses into the air as soon as an apple pie comes out of the oven. Try the flowers fried in fritters or in croissant or biscuit dough. Use them to balance the acidity of a redcurrant or citrus salad, or to sweeten rhubarb. As for the intensely flavored roots, they are very sweet after frost. Make candies like candied ginger. Blanch them, they will then be exceptionally sweet! Leave some roots so that young shoots will come back in the spring. It is often prescribed as a digestive at the end of a meal. Aquavit, a traditional Scandinavian brandy served at Christmas celebrations, is an example. In addition to serving as a beneficial tonic for the mood and a beneficial sweetener for diabetics, its infusion with honey soothes coughs.