Costmary

Tanacetum balsamita · Herb

40 pairings

Costmary (Tanacetum balsamita), also called alecost or "Bible leaf," is a tall daisy-family perennial whose long, silvery grey-green leaves give off a warm, balsamic scent that lands somewhere between spearmint and lemon-balm with a resinous, faintly bitter edge. A cottage-garden herb of the medieval and Tudor still-room, it was steeped into ale before hops (hence "alecost"), tucked as a fragrant page-marker into prayer books and Bibles, and rubbed sparingly into salads, stuffings and sweet dishes.

Picking a good onedrag

Just cut, silver-green and standingBlackened, limp, sour at the cut

Kitchen freshYoung pre-flowering leaf is the mild one. Bruise it into a salad, eggs or a stuffing — a pinch herb, not a handful. A daisy relative, so ragweed allergies can carry over.Everyday best

The leafStill grey-green, edges relaxed, a yellow leaf low down

Stalk and cut endStalks still firm to squeeze, cut end darkening

Bruise a leafClearly minty, the resinous camphor base stepping up

What to look for, from just cut, silver-green and standing to blackened, limp, sour at the cut.

Preparing