Fennel, with its white bulb and green, feathery top, is a member of the carrot family. The vegetable is native to the Mediterranean and is eaten both raw and cooked in a variety of cuisines, most famously Italian food.
What type of cuisine uses fennel?
This Mediterranean vegetable, at its peak in spring and fall, has a strong anise flavor and crisp texture that’s delicious in salads when raw. When cooked, fennel softens and the flavor becomes sweet and mild.
What is fennel usually in?
One way to get started cooking with fennel is to use it anywhere you would use celery. It’s a natural in soups, sauces, and stews, particularly tomato-based recipes. When chopped or sliced, it makes a great raw addition to salads. It is luscious when roasted.
What culture is fennel from?
A happy umbellifeae, fennel comes to us from the Mediterranean, spread throughout the world by Charlemagne and Italian colonization. The word foeniculum comes from the Latin foenum, meaning hay, corrupted during the Middle Ages to “fenkel.”
What cultures use fennel seeds?
Known to grow wild, this herb was well-known to the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Indians and Chinese. During the Middle Ages, it was believed to be holy and was hung by people over their doors to drive away evil spirits. A multi-faceted herb, the ancient Romans used it to control obesity.
What does fennel taste like?
Fennel has a very mild anise or licorice flavor that can be enhanced or sweetened depending on how it is cooked (or not cooked). When diced and sauteed with onions as one of the first steps when making a soup or stew, fennel becomes very sweet.
Does fennel taste like onion?
The fennel plant sort of resembles onions and other bulbs, but the taste is much closer to anise or licorice. Fennel tastes “anise-like” and is often described as a less intense licorice taste. After you cook a fennel bulb, it becomes even more mild. Even licorice haters are known to like fennel.
How do Italians eat fennel?
Both, along with the potent dried fennel seeds, are popular in Italian cuisine, whether chopped into a salad, sprinkled over fish as a garnish or used to add a sultry hit of anise to cured and cooked meats.
Do Italians use fennel?
Fennel is found in many recipes of Italian cuisine, bulbs and fronds are used, both raw and cooked, for side dishes, salads, pastas, vegetable dishes and risottos. The fennel seed is a common ingredient in Italian sausages and meatballs.
Is fennel used in Chinese cooking?
You are probably most familiar with the taste of fennel seeds in Italian sausages and also in Indian cuisines but they are also used in Chinese cooking. Fennel seed or huí xiāng zǐ (茴香籽) is one of the spices used to make 5 spice powder! We use whole fennel seed in Lanzhou Beef Noodle soup.
Is fennel poisonous to dogs?
In the event someone has told you that fennel is bad for your dog, the reality is that this herb and its seeds are perfectly safe for your pup. With that in mind, you can certainly add extra fennel to your dog’s food without worry.
What does fennel symbolize?
Fennel is said to have symbolized flattery and adultery. Columbines were for ingratitude, adultery, faithlessness, or deceived lovers. (The fennel and columbine may have been for Gertrude, she had been unfaithful. And/or they may have been for Claudius because he committed adultery with Gertrude. )
Can you eat fennel raw?
The fennel bulb is enjoyed raw, where its anise flavor is most pronounced, and cooked for a sweeter, mellower version of itself. But don’t pitch the rest! The entire fennel plant is not only edible but delicious.
What are the health benefits of fennel?
What are the 5 top health benefits of fennel?
- May maintain a healthy heart. A good source of fibre as well as heart-friendly nutrients like potassium and folate, vegetables like fennel may support heart health.
- May support healthy skin.
- May be anti-inflammatory.
- May aid weight management.
- May improve the symptoms of anaemia.
Is fennel a herb or spice?
Fennel is a perennial herb belonging to the carrot family – which also includes coriander, cumin, and dill. The word fennel traces its roots to the Latin word feniculum, the diminutive of fenum, meaning “hay” – thought to be a description of the seed’s aroma.
Is fennel a sedative?
A study reported the sedative effect of 200 mg/kg aqueous extracts of fennel seeds in male albino rates. It also revealed a significant increase in some neurotransmitter content in all brain regions (26). Mesfin et al.
What meat goes best with fennel?
Cooks love pairing fennel with pork, chicken, and sausage, and the more daring will even add it to lamb dishes. The herb in all of its forms is also a popular choice for almost every type of fish, including shellfish.
Is fennel a blood thinner?
Fennel might slow blood clotting. Taking fennel along with medications that also slow blood clotting might increase the risk of bruising and bleeding.
What is the best way to eat fennel?
Roasted: Couldn’t be simpler!
Cut a fresh fennel bulb into quarters or eighths, depending on size, toss with olive oil and vinegar, and roast on a baking sheet until tender (try 20 minutes at 400 for starters). Top with grated fresh parmesan and enjoy as a snack or a side dish.
Is licorice made from fennel?
Anise, fennel and licorice are three entirely different plants, but they all have similar taste properties. They are all sweet and aromatic. This often leads to confusion when eating products that contain any one of them.
Does fennel taste like sausage?
Fennel gives sausage an anise-like flavor, that some liken to a mild version of black licorice.