Yarrow
Achillea millefolium · Botanical
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Yarrow is the flat-topped white umbel and feathery leaf of Achillea millefolium — a camphor-and-pine bitter herb that flavoured European ale for centuries before hops took over. It survives today in gruit beers, vermouth and amari, where its job is bitterness with an aromatic edge rather than a green herb note.
Picking a good onedrag
Newly dried, camphor and pine up frontBrown dust, musty, no scent left
Well keptEveryday bestShort steeps into wort, vermouth or bitters, by the gram. Anyone allergic to daisies must avoid it; not in pregnancy or breastfeeding.
What is in the bagCut herb, mostly floret and leaf, some thin stem
Colour of leaf and floretLeaf dulling toward olive, florets gone ivory
Crush a pinchCrisp still, the thickest stalk a little leathery
Smell the crushed pinchCamphor clear once rubbed, the pine just behind