Artemisia dracunculus, Tarragon

Tarragon, also known as estragon and sometimes refered to as 'dragon wort', is a  herb in the sunflower family. It grows natively in Europe and Eastwards as far as Mongolia and is thought to have originated in Siberia. It also grows in North America, presumably introduced and then naturalised.The variety that grows in France is considered to have the best culinary properties.

With its attractive flavour, reminiscent of anise, tarragon is one of the four 'fines herbes' of French cooking, along with parsley, chives and chervil. It's an essential ingredient of Béarnaise sauce and good with lamb, chicken and egg dishes.

In the middle east it features in the Iranian 'sabzi khordan', a side dish of fresh herbs and also in their 'khiar shoor' which are a type of pickled cucumber.

In traditional medicine tarragon has been used for treating digestive problems, it's also been recommended for its anaesthetic properties in cases of toothache. As it contains eugenol which the same active ingredient as found in clove this isn't surprising.

Camstar have good supplies of UK grown tarragon, and have also recently commenced production of tarragon essential oil.