Sweet Cicely: The Anise-Sweet European Herb Used to Cut Sugar in Tart Fruit

Sweet cicely is an herb sweet enough that cooks have used it to cut the sugar in a pan of stewed tart fruit. It’s Myrrhis odorata, a carrot-family perennial with a licorice-like fragrance that’s strongest in its unripe seeds, which stand in well for anise or fennel. It has only a small place in modern cooking, but where it does turn up, especially in Scandinavia, it goes into salads and stewed fruit. If you forage it, be careful: it often grows next to cow parsley, in a family that includes hemlock.

At a glance

What sweet cicely is

Myrrhis odorata is a perennial of the temperate biome. The Herb Society notes that it often grows next to its relative cow parsley, and that it’s the more compact of the two, 60 cm to 1.5 m tall, with umbels about 5 cm across and whitish flecks on most of its leaves.³

Not the American sweet cicely

In North America, “sweet cicely” can also mean Osmorhiza longistylis, which the EPPO database lists as American sweet cicely, anise root and wild anise.⁴ It’s a different genus in the same family, Apiaceae. This page is about the European Myrrhis odorata.

The name

Katzer traces English “cicely” to an obscure Greek plant name, seselis, which seems to have been a catch-all for several umbelliferous herbs. He lists Spanish chervil, sweet chervil and anise chervil among its English names, and notes that the Dutch call it Roomse kervel, “Roman chervil.”²

Where it comes from

Kew lists it as introduced in Great Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Iceland and parts of North America, among other places.¹ Katzer says it’s a common garden plant in parts of Western Europe, mainly Scandinavia. So the idea of sweet cicely as a native British herb doesn’t hold up. On Kew’s list, it was introduced there.

Flavor and aroma

Sweet cicely has a strong fragrance like licorice or anise and a sweet taste, especially in the stem, and the fragrance and taste are strongest in the unripe seeds. The seeds taste more strongly of aniseed than the leaves.

The compounds

The leaves hold very little essential oil, about 0.05% by Katzer’s figure, and that oil is rich in phenylpropanoids: anethole at about 85%, plus methyl chavicol.² Katzer doesn’t pin the plant’s sweet taste on any one compound, and neither do we.

How sweet cicely is used

• Fresh leaves. The Herb Society suggests the soft raw leaves in vegetable and fruit salads or dips, and cooked into soups, stews and omelets. Katzer says you can use the leaves instead of chervil.
• Stewed fruit and less sugar. The Herb Society says the leaves’ natural sweetness has been used to cut sugar in recipes, especially when stewing tart fruit.³ Katzer notes that in Scandinavia it commonly flavors stewed fruits, and that the fruits and stalks may help save sugar. You’ll often see rhubarb and gooseberries named as the classic partners, but none of the sources we opened names a specific fruit.
• Seeds. Katzer calls the unripe fruits a good substitute for anise, fennel or even licorice. The Herb Society says the green seeds are good to nibble before they turn dark brown.
• With fines herbes. If you like the licorice note, Katzer suggests combining cicely with the French fines herbes. It isn’t one of the standard four; see fines herbes.
• Drinks. The Herb Society says the flavor lends itself to aperitifs and digestifs. Sweet cicely is often said to be an ingredient of Chartreuse and of Scandinavian aquavit, but we found no source for either.

Add the leaves near the end of cooking.

Buying and storage

We found no published storage or shelf-life figures for the leaves or seeds.

Safety and health claims

Sweet cicely belongs to a family that includes deadly plants. The Herb Society points out that Apiaceae includes poisonous species like hemlock and giant hogweed, and that sweet cicely often grows alongside cow parsley.³ If you forage, be certain of your identification. Buying a plant from a nursery sidesteps the problem.

The Herb Society records that it’s been used to help relieve coughs.³ That’s a report of traditional use, not a tested finding. We couldn’t trace any of these claims to a source we opened: that sweet cicely is a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and potassium; that its oil works as an antiseptic on wounds or against dog bites; that it’s a carminative or a diuretic; or that it treats asthma. We make no claim that sweet cicely treats or prevents any condition. We found no regulator assessment or recall involving it.

Substitutes and comparisons

For the anise note, fennel fronds, a little tarragon or a pinch of anise seed are the usual stand-ins. For the herb role, use chervil. Related pages:

• Chervil and chervil substitutes
• Anise seed and star anise vs. anise seed
• Fennel seed
• Tarragon
• Angelica and lovage
• Fennel seed vs. anise seed
• Fines herbes