21st April 2022 - Angelica Archangelica

Angelica growing in the patio border

I love using plants in my garden that have a strong sentimental attachment. For some plants it could be a name shared with a loved one, or that reminds me of a place we've visited. Angelica (Angelica archangelica) is one such plant. Every Christmas since I can remember, and probably before I was born, my mum has made Christmas wreath cookies, a sort of shortbread fashioned into a shape a bit like a looped ribbon, with a piece of glace cherry on one side, and a piece of crystallised angelica on the other. I've never been a big fan of the biscuits, although they are a firm favourite with the rest of my family, including my husband, but I loved the sugary bold green angelica. As a child I assumed it was a confection, and had no idea it was the candied stem of a plant. 

It is quite hard to get hold of now. You can buy expensive bags of it from Amazon and the like, but now I have a garden of my own, I finally decided to grow some a try candying it myself. 

So last week, when I had Covid, that's what I did!

I followed this recipe Candied Angelica - How to Candy Angelica or Lovage Stems and it proved to be both quite simple and very effective. It also gave the house a wonderfully sweet herbal aroma during the process!

Drying the stems

I now have 1 lb (approx. 500 g) of candied angelica in a Kilner jar just waiting for Christmas. I also have a bowl of angelica flavoured syrup begging to be made into cocktails. Any suggestions?

Happy gardening.

Heather