Interesting facts

The name angelica originates from the Middle Ages, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to a hermit in a dream and revealed the plant as a particularly effective remedy for the plague. This vision fits in with the idea that healing properties are located in the metaphysical world, in the realm of the angels. The scientific name angelica translates as angel (Lat. angelicus = angelic), archangelica means archangel.
Since angelica is native to northern regions the oldest written records of its medicinal properties are found in Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland, where it is known by the name kvan. In Iceland it was forbidden by law to dig up angelica plants unless they were growing on the digger’s own property.
Vikings brought the potent medicinal plant to Central Europe in the 10th century, where it rapidly became very popular and was cultivated in monastery gardens, whence it spread and became wild. As with so many healing plants, in Europe angelica, too, was thought to protect against the plague, and the root was chewed to stop people contracting the disease. As late as 1771 the French physician, botanist and lawyer Pierre Joseph Buchoz (1731–1807) advised sprinkling one’s clothes with powdered angelica root during a plague epidemic. Since the Middle Ages angelica has also been an ingredient of theriac (Greek therion = wild animal), a medicinal concoction originally developed as an antidote and used since antiquity as a panacea for all kinds of diseases and ailments and still manufactured today, although with a modified recipe and other indications.
In mediaeval times the involucral leaves from which the new shoots grow and which envelope the flower buds were regarded as symbolising protection. In folklore, therefore, angelica was regarded as protecting against black magic and evil spirits.
All parts of the angelica plant are edible. The Norwegians, Icelanders and inhabitants of the Faeroe Islands still eat its stems and roots, either cooked as vegetables or raw in salads. The powdered root can be used as a condiment; candied root is used in baking in a similar way to candied orange peel; and candied angelica stems are regarded as a tasty treat in Southern Germany and Switzerland. Angelica is a stomachic and much favoured as a component of different herbal liqueurs. It fixes the fragrance in potpourris.