Parsley – Flat-leaved (Petroselinum hortense)
Flowers: June. Height: Up to 60cm (24in).
A 13th century herbalist wrote that Petroselinum comes from the Latin ‘petrosus‘ meaning ‘stony‘ because “it grows in or near stones and stony places”. This perhaps referred to the fact that it could be grown in poorer soil. In Rome it was associated with the goddess Persephone, queen of the underworld, and was used in funeral ceremonies. During the Dark Ages, Christians in Europe were forbidden to transplant parsley in the belief that doing so invited death and crop failure. Mention of Parsley in Britain goes back to the mid 1300s and it was regularly grown in herb and infirmary gardens as well as kitchen gardens.
Medicinal: In medieval times, chewing parsley was thought to relieve intestinal gas, coughs, treat bruises and counteract the effects of poisons and snakebite. It was a calming and soothing herb for the nervous system. Used for eye inflammations and Culpeper’s Complete Herbal (1653) said “Leaves laid to the eyes inflamed with heat, or swollen, helps them.” Crushed parsley seeds were used against parasites as they were thought able to get rid of head and body lice.
Culinary: Parsley was regularly used in cooking in vast quantities, added to pottages and casseroles, chopped in salads, and added to sauces to make them a rich green colour. It is included in recipes in the ‘Forme of Cury’, the oldest known instructive cookery book (c.1390) detailing over 200 recipes and written in the English language by the Master-Cooks of King Richard II. (The Middle English word ‘cury’ means ‘cookery’.)
