Sweet Woodruff

Galium odoratum · Edible flower

40 pairings

Sweet woodruff is the fragrant flowering herb Galium odoratum, a low woodland groundcover of the madder family whose starry white blossoms and whorled leaves are prized less for how they taste fresh than for the warm, hay-like, vanilla-and-almond scent they release as they wilt and dry. Steeped in Rhine wine it makes Germany's traditional Maibowle (May wine) and gives its name and flavour to woodruff syrups, jellies and the bright-green "Waldmeister" sweets.

Picking a good onedrag

Just cut in bloom, whorls flat, scent not yet upBlackened and sour at the cut, sweetness gone musty

Wilting a dayWilt the cut herb a day and the hay-and-vanilla coumarin blooms - the May wine step. A bunch that smells faint and green when fresh is not stale, only early.The scent arrives

The white starsStill white and open, the odd star shed when the bunch is shaken

Stems and leaf whorlsStems firm, the wheels relaxed and beginning to fold upward

Rub a leafWarm hay and vanilla beginning to rise out of the wilting leaf

What to look for, from just cut in bloom, whorls flat, scent not yet up to blackened and sour at the cut, sweetness gone musty.

Preparing