Ingredient guide / Culinary herbs
Sweet woodruff: flavour, uses and substitutes
Hay-like, sweet and distinctive after brief wilting.
Galium odoratum
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Three identifying features
- Narrow leaves in whorls
- Several leaves at one stem level
- Hay-like scent on wilting
Fresh or dried?
Use only reliably identified material; wilting changes its scent. Read the coumarin source note.
When should it go into the pan?
For culinary aroma, infuse briefly and remove the herb; no dosage is suggested here.
What does it go with?
Traditionally flavoured drinks and desserts.
Cuisines & dish ideas
A traditional central European fragrance for drinks and desserts; read the coumarin note.
What can replace it?
Vanilla gives a different sweet fragrance, not an equivalent replacement.
How should it be stored?
Keep purchased fresh material cool and follow the product instructions promptly.
Note
The BfR lists sweet woodruff as a plant containing coumarin. This entry therefore gives no quantity recommendation for homemade drinks or concentrates.
Recipes using it
This ingredient has not been found in the existing recipe collection yet.
Sources and notes
Sources
- NC State Extension · Galium odoratum · Accessed 2026-10-25
- BZfE · How-to Kräuter · Accessed 2026-10-25
- BfR · Cumarin in Zimt und anderen Lebensmitteln · Accessed 2026-10-25
Image: AI-generated (OpenAI). Image note: The illustrations were created with AI. They show culinary ingredients and are not a guide to identifying wild plants.