angelica

Angelica comes from the Medieval Latin herba angelica — the angelic herb — from the Greek ángelos (messenger, angel). The legend varies: in one version, the Archangel Michael appeared to a monk during a plague epidemic and identified angelica as the cure. In another, the plant blooms on May 8, the feast day of Michael the Archangel. The timing is approximately correct — angelica flowers in late spring — which was evidence enough for medieval botanists.

The plant — Angelica archangelica — is native to Scandinavia and northern Europe. Vikings cultivated it. In medieval Norway, angelica was one of the most important trade goods — the stalks were candied and exported, the roots were dried for medicine. Norwegian law in the medieval period protected angelica patches as property. Stealing angelica from another person's land was a punishable offense. A weed by modern standards was a cash crop by medieval ones.

Candied angelica stems — bright green and crystallized with sugar — were a standard decoration on European cakes and pastries from the 1600s through the mid-twentieth century. Chartreuse, the green liqueur made by Carthusian monks since 1737, contains angelica among its 130 botanical ingredients. Benedictine, another monastic liqueur, also uses it. Angelica is the herb of monks — named by monks, traded by monks, distilled by monks.

The plant has largely disappeared from mainstream cooking. Candied angelica is now a niche specialty. The medicinal claims — plague cure, digestive aid, blood purifier — have not survived clinical scrutiny. But angelica still grows wild across Scandinavia, and it still appears in the ingredient lists of liqueurs distilled by religious orders who have been making them for centuries.