Angelica is a giant, musky-scented herb of the carrot family from northern Europe. Its stems are candied for cakes and trifles, and its roots and seeds flavour gin, vermouth, Chartreuse and Bénédictine.
What it is¶
Garden angelica is one of the most imposing plants in the herb garden: a great clump of bright green, deeply divided leaves on hollow, ribbed, often purple-flushed stems, which in its second or third year throws up a flowering stalk 1.5–2.5 m tall topped with large, rounded umbels of greenish-white flowers. Once it has set seed, the plant usually dies — botanically it is monocarpic, flowering once.
Everything about it is aromatic. The stems and leaf stalks are candied or cooked with fruit; the roots and seeds are the parts used in gins, liqueurs and bitters; the leaves are used more sparingly as a herb. Wild angelica (Angelica sylvestris), common in damp places across Britain, is a smaller relative with a weaker flavour. Several Asian species are used differently: Angelica sinensis (dong quai) is a root of Chinese traditional medicine, and Angelica keiskei (ashitaba) is eaten as a leafy vegetable in Japan.
Origins and history¶
Angelica comes from the far north of Europe, where it was a food long before it was a garden herb. In Norway, Iceland and the Faroes the stems were eaten raw or cooked as a green vegetable, and Norse law codes and sagas refer to angelica (Old Norse hvönn) as a plant worth protecting; it is generally thought that the Vikings carried it south. In Greenland it is still gathered and eaten.
By the late Middle Ages it was grown in monastery gardens all over Europe (see physic-and-monastery-gardens). Its name, and the species name archangelica, come from a legend that the archangel Michael revealed it as a remedy for plague; another story links its name to its flowering around his feast day in the old calendar. Both are folklore. It was widely recommended against the plague by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century herbalists, a use that has no basis we would recognise today.
Candied angelica became a speciality of Niort, in the marshes of Poitou in western France, from at least the seventeenth century, and the town still makes candied angelica, angelica jam and angelica liqueur. In Britain, bright green candied angelica was a standard decoration for trifles and cakes until the later twentieth century.
Flavour and aroma¶
Angelica's flavour is unusual: musky and earthy, with notes of juniper, pine, celery and a slightly bitter, almost perfumed finish. The musk comes partly from macrocyclic lactones in the root, the same class of compounds perfumers prize for musk scents, while the fresh, piney top notes come from terpenes such as beta-phellandrene and alpha-pinene.
The stems are milder and sweeter, somewhere between celery and a green, aromatic rhubarb. The root is the most intense part and the seeds are similar but brighter. In drinks, angelica is valued less as a flavour you notice than as a base note that holds other aromatics together.
In the kitchen¶
- Candied angelica: young stems, blanched, peeled and simmered repeatedly in sugar syrup over several days until translucent. Cut into diamonds to decorate trifles and cakes, or chop into Christmas cakes, fruitcakes and Italian-style cassata. Commercial candied angelica is often dyed a brighter green.
- With sharp fruit: a few pieces of young stem or leaf stalk cooked with rhubarb or gooseberries soften their acidity, like sweet cicely.
- Jams and preserves: angelica jam and angelica-flavoured marmalade in Niort; stems in rhubarb jam.
- Scandinavia and Iceland: stems eaten raw with butter, cooked in milk dishes or used in flatbreads; young leaves in salads and with fish.
- Savoury: a little chopped young leaf with fish and in soups; leaf stalks braised like celery.
Angelica is also one of the great botanicals of the drinks world:
| Drink | Part used | Role |
|---|---|---|
| London dry gin | Root (sometimes seed) | Earthy, musky base note that "fixes" the other botanicals |
| Chartreuse | Reportedly among its many plants | Part of a secret recipe of over a hundred herbs |
| Bénédictine | Reportedly among its botanicals | The recipe is secret; angelica is usually listed |
| Vermouths and bitters | Root | Bitter, earthy depth |
| Liqueur d'angélique | Stems | The regional liqueur of Niort |
Alongside juniper and coriander seed, angelica root is one of the three botanicals found in almost every gin.
💡 Candy your own
Cut stems in late spring while they are young and tender, before the plant starts to flower; older stems are stringy.
Buying and storing¶
Candied angelica keeps for months in an airtight tin in a cool place; if it dries out and hardens, soften it in a little warm syrup. Fresh stems keep a week or so wrapped in the fridge. Dried root and seed should be stored like any whole spice, sealed and away from light, where they keep their aroma for a year or two. See storing-spices.
Substitutes¶
There is no close substitute for candied angelica; other candied peel, or green glacé cherries for colour, will do as a cake decoration. In savoury cooking, young lovage stems give a similar celery-like, aromatic note. For home infusions and liqueurs, a little juniper with a pinch of celery seed approximates angelica's earthy, musky edge.
Pairs well with¶
Rhubarb, gooseberries, apples, pears, cream, custard, dried fruit, almonds, fish, juniper, coriander seed, orange peel, sweet cicely, fennel and lovage.
Growing your own¶
Angelica is fully hardy and likes cool, moist, rich soil in partial shade or sun; it will not thrive in hot, dry conditions. Leave room: a flowering plant is about 1 m across and taller than a person. It behaves as a biennial, making leaves in its first year and flowering in its second or third, after which it dies.
The seed loses viability quickly, so sow it as soon as it is ripe in late summer, pressing it onto the surface of the compost (it needs light to germinate), or let the plant self-seed. Transplant seedlings while small, since the taproot resents disturbance. Cutting off the flower stalk before it blooms can keep a plant going for another year or two. Harvest stems for candying in spring, leaves as needed, seeds when they turn pale brown, and roots in the autumn of the first year. See annual-and-perennial-herbs.
Health and safety¶
⚠️ Sap and sunlight
Angelica, like its relatives giant hogweed and wild parsnip, contains furanocoumarins (including bergapten and xanthotoxin). If the sap gets on skin that is then exposed to sunlight it can cause phytophotodermatitis: redness, blistering and dark marks that can last for months. Wear gloves and long sleeves when cutting large amounts, and wash skin promptly.
The most serious risk is misidentification. Angelica's white-flowered umbels look like those of several deadly plants, especially water hemlock (Cicuta species, including cowbane, Cicuta virosa, in Britain and northern Europe) and hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata), both of which grow in the same wet places and can kill in small amounts. Never gather wild angelica unless you are completely sure. See poisonous-lookalikes and foraging-wild-herbs.
Concentrated angelica oils and root preparations are traditionally avoided in pregnancy. Culinary use of the candied stem is not a concern.