Caraway is great in slaw and a must for sauerkraut and the pork that often accompanies it. The Germans still use it to make kummel, a liqueur.

Try it in applesauce or apple pie, or a Waldorf-type salad with mayonnaise. You can make a caraway tea to combat flatulence, bloating, and other digestive miseries.

Caraway’s delicate, fernlike leaves have the same anise scent as the seeds do. When a plant reaches 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) tall — usually in the summer of its second year, but occasionally earlier — it produces white, umbrella flowers. Then come the seeds with five ribs and pointed ends. The long taproot looks and tastes like parsnip.

Sow seeds 1/2 inch (1 cm) deep in spring (if you live in the South, in fall as well) in loose, fertile, moisture-retaining soil. Thin seedlings to 8 inches (20 cm). Caraway prefers full sun, although a bit of shade is your only hope in hot, rainless, humid summers. If you give it the right spot and don’t collect all its seeds, it may make a return visit.