Use chervil with spring vegetables for a subtle anise note. Later in summer, chervil is good with cold soups and salads. Preserve it in spreads, such as cream cheese, butter, or sour cream.

High in protein and containing calcium and magnesium, chervil also goes well with eggs. Herbalists say that it may reduce high blood pressure. Dried chervil is delicate — expose leaves to high heat and they’ll be as tasty as yesterday’s newspaper.

Chervil is an annual that has white umbrella flowers and somewhat ferny leaves. Growing 1 to 2 feet (30 to 61 cm) tall, with thin, branched stems, its divided leaves are easily mistaken for parsley’s. And like parsley, it comes in both flat-leaf and curly varieties. In hot sun, chervil either goes to seed early or immediately shrivels.

Plant it where it’ll get some summer shade. You can begin harvesting this herb about eight weeks after germination; you can harvest continually if you sow seeds every couple of weeks in spring and again in late summer. Harvest leaves just before the flower clusters open. (Better still, remove flower stems to encourage new foliage.)

Chervil seeds need light to germinate, so just press them into the soil with your hand and keep the soil moist. After the seeds sprout, thin plants to 10 inches. Chervil seeds don’t age well, so don’t keep them over winter.