Cicely

What is Cicely?

What is cicely?

Cicely is a soft, ferny garden herb with a sweet aniseed taste. Its full name is sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata). It belongs to the carrot family, like parsley, fennel and dill.

Cooks use the leaves with sour fruit, above all rhubarb and gooseberries. The herb tastes sweet, so less sugar is needed in the pan. The green seeds and the root are eaten too.

It grows across much of Europe, in hedges, damp meadows and old gardens. In Britain it was once planted near houses as a kitchen and bee plant. Today most people meet it as a flavouring, not as a medicine.

Here is the honest verdict. Cicely has a long record as food and as a folk remedy. There are almost no human studies of it as a medicine.

Traditional use is not proof that a plant works. It is also not proof that a plant is safe. Both points apply to cicely, and they apply to everything below.

One real hazard is worth knowing before anything else. Several deadly plants in the same family look like cicely, including hemlock. Picking the wrong one has killed people.

How does Cicely work?

How is cicely thought to work?

The short answer is that nobody has shown how it works in people. No trial has tested a cicely preparation against a dummy treatment.

Most of what is said about it comes from its smell and taste. The plant is rich in a scent compound called anethole, which also gives anise and fennel their flavour. In lab and animal work, anethole appears to relax gut muscle and ease wind.

Whether that happens after a cup of cicely tea is not established.

Cicely leaves also hold flavonoids, a family of plant pigments. In test-tube studies these mop up reactive molecules. That is a chemistry result, not a health result in a person.

The sweet taste is the one effect you can see for yourself. Adding cicely to stewed rhubarb lets you use less sugar. That is a cooking trick, not a medical action.

Some older writers said the root was a tonic for weak or elderly people. There is no modern work to support that idea. Treat it as folklore.

In short, the plausible parts of cicely are its flavour and its sugar-sparing use in the kitchen. The medical parts rest on tradition and lab hints. Those hints have not been followed up in humans.

What forms does Cicely come in?

What forms does cicely come in?

Cicely is mostly a kitchen herb, not a supplement. You are most likely to meet it as:

- Fresh leaves, chopped into stewed fruit, salads, cream or omelettes. - Green unripe seeds, eaten raw or used as a flavouring. - Ripe dried seeds, used as a spice.

- Root, boiled as a vegetable or candied, mainly in older recipes. - Dried leaf, sold loose or in herbal tea blends. - A flavouring in some European liqueurs and aperitifs.

Tinctures and capsules exist but are uncommon. They are not standardised, so strength varies between makers.

Essential oil of cicely is rare. Swallowing any concentrated plant oil is a different matter from eating the herb, and it is not something to try at home.

Garden centres sell the live plant. If you grow it, you know what you have, which removes the biggest risk attached to this herb.

Where it comes from:

Where does cicely come from?

Cicely was a staple of European kitchen gardens for centuries. Writers from the 16th and 17th century listed it among sweet pot-herbs. Gerard and Culpeper both described it.

Old uses recorded in those books included:

- A tonic for older or run-down people. - A remedy for wind, upset stomach and poor appetite. - A gentle cough herb.

- A poultice for bruises and sore joints. - A rub for beehives and wooden floors, for the scent.

In northern Britain and Scandinavia it was planted near doors and in churchyards. Cooks valued it most as a sugar saver with rhubarb, long before sugar was cheap.

None of these records were tests. They tell you what people believed and what they did. They do not tell you whether the herb helped.

The culinary use has held up and is still alive today. The medicinal use has largely faded, and modern science never picked it up.

What does Cicely help with?

• Sweetening tart fruit so less sugar is used: This is the one use that clearly works, and it is a cooking effect. Cicely leaves taste sweet and take the edge off rhubarb and gooseberries. Many cooks cut the sugar by a third or so. That is a kitchen result you can judge yourself. It is not a treatment for diabetes or weight. Cicely does not change how your body handles the sugar you do eat.
• Wind, bloating and mild indigestion: Tradition used cicely tea for a full, gassy stomach. Anise-flavoured herbs have long been used this way across Europe. In lab and animal studies, anethole appears to relax gut muscle. No trial has tested cicely itself in people with bloating. So this use is plausible but unproven. If bloating is new, severe or lasting, it needs a doctor rather than a herb.
• Poor appetite: Old herbals listed cicely among plants given to people who were eating poorly. Aromatic, slightly bitter herbs were a standard answer to this. There is no human evidence for cicely here. Appetite loss has many causes, some serious. Unexplained weight loss or a long drop in appetite should be checked by a doctor.
• Mild cough: Cicely root and seed were sometimes used in cough mixtures in European folk practice. Sweet, aromatic plants were common in such recipes. No study has tested cicely for cough in people. Any soothing effect may come simply from a warm sweet drink. A cough with blood, fever or breathlessness is not a herb matter.
• General tonic in older folk use: The root was once given to elderly or weak people as a strengthening food. This was a belief of its time. There is no evidence for a tonic effect. "Tonic" is also not a condition a doctor can treat or measure. Tiredness that lasts deserves a proper check, since causes like anaemia and thyroid problems are common and treatable.

Which foods are rich in Cicely?

Cicely is itself a food. It appears in stewed rhubarb, gooseberry dishes, cream, salads and some European liqueurs.

What are the side effects of Cicely?

• Allergic rash, itching or swelling in people sensitive to carrot-family plants
• Tingling or itching in the mouth after eating the fresh herb
• Mild stomach upset or loose stools with large amounts
• Skin rash after sap contact followed by strong sunlight
• Rarely, breathing trouble or throat swelling in a true allergy

Good to know:

How risky is it?

In normal food amounts, cicely is well tolerated by most people. Side effects are not often reported.

The main real-world concern is allergy. People who react to carrot, celery, parsley or fennel may react to cicely too.

Sun-triggered skin rashes are known across this plant family. They follow heavy sap contact, such as cutting large amounts, and then sun on the skin.

The far bigger danger is not the herb itself. It is picking a poisonous lookalike by mistake, which can be fatal. See the safety section.

How much Cicely should you take?

• Recommended daily: How much is normally used? Cicely is eaten as a food herb, so there is no studied dose. No trial has set a safe or useful amount. In cooking, people use a small handful of fresh chopped leaves in a pan of stewed fruit. Herbal tea blends usually carry about one to two teaspoons of dried leaf per cup. These are label and recipe norms, not advice for you. Concentrated extracts and the essential oil are a different matter, and no amount is given here.
• Best time of day: Does timing matter? No. There is no evidence that the time of day changes anything. People who drink it for wind tend to take it after meals. That is habit, not a tested rule.
• With or without food: With food or without? Either is fine. Cicely is a food and sits well with meals. Tea is most often taken after eating. Large amounts on an empty stomach may feel mildly unsettling in some people.
• Time to effect: How fast does it work? The sweet taste works at once, in the pan. That is the only reliable effect. For digestive complaints, people who find it helpful usually say so within an hour. Many people notice nothing at all. Cicely may do nothing for your symptoms. Treat it as a pleasant drink, not a treatment.
• How long to take it: How long do people use it? As a food herb, it is used in season, year after year, with no known limit. That is how most of Europe has used it. As a tea for a symptom, short use of a few days is the usual pattern. There is no safety data on long daily use of strong preparations. If a symptom lasts more than one to two weeks, stop and get it looked at.