HISTORY: Caraway was one of the herbs mentioned in ancient Egyptian pharmacopoeias, so this herb has been around for ages. Medicinally it helps to relieve problems of indigestion - flatulence, stomach or gut pain and colic in babies. Presumably as a result of its widespsread medicinal use, it is now found as a seasoning agent in many different cultures.

GROWING INFORMATION: Carawy is a biennial, meaning that the plant needs two years to complete its growing cycle. The first year the plant produces just foliage and develops a long tap-root. As the weather warms during its second year of growth, the plant quickly spurts into maturity, flowering and setting seed. It grows best in a position providing full sun and in fertile soil which drains well. However, it is not particular as it has naturalized in many areas of the country. As with some of the other hardy biennials, if you leave the seeds in place, caraway will self-sow and start the process again the following year. If you have room in your garden, it's rather nice to keep a stand of caraway. Just sow seeds for two years in a row in order to enjoy both the foliage and seeds in the same year.

HOW TO USE CARAWAY: Seed: Everyone is familiar with caraway seed either in or on top of rye bread. But it is also delicious used in cooking pork, eggs, cheese (Yes!), beets, cabbage, sauerkraut, potatoes, zucchini, codfish and many other dishes.

Leaves:While not commonly used, the leaves provide a most pleasant yet mild flavor of caraway that goes quite nicely in salads and soup. Also delicious with fresh peas, baby carrots, etc..

Roots: May be used just as you would parsnips, however they have a caraway like flavor which is quite interesting. I haven't done this yet - but I plan to slice caraway root, parsnip root along with potatoes and combine them in an Au Gratin. If you do it before I do, let me know how you like it by sending me an e-mail: preppert@ulster.net. Be sure to give me your name and I'll put the recipe in my next cookbook with full credit to you.