Fennel

[Natalie]

My mother in law gave me a fennel plant and said it was for seeds, not for eating. It's now as tall as me and flowering. Are there really different uses for different fennel? I'd much rather eat it...

 

[HiDelight]

you can use the entire plant of a seed fennel ...it is just tougher as it grows that the bulb fennel
but the young stems are fine ..just bite them and see ...some stems are just perfect for eating

I use the flowers and the pollen (fennel pollen is so wonderful in flavor) they both have great flavor to them

fennel is so great to grow it draws bees and butterflies ..it reseeds and can get crazy in your yard but since I love it I just let it find its own home here

enjoy your fennel

I also love the green seeds and can not resist grabbing a flower off when it just goes to seed and just eating it

 

[Greenthumb18]

Oh yeah it definely attracts butterflies that lay eggs on them and the catepillars hatch and stay on the fennel. Take a look at a few pictures of some catepillars i found on my fennel plants plus i see more yellow tiny eggs.

 

[HiDelight]

harvested some young bulbs of fennel for my salad and along with the other herb seeds I collected I gathered the fennel seeds as well


anyone else enjoying the taste of fennel right now ?

the seeds are so good from this particular bulb fennel

very sweet and anisy

 

[obsessed]

Aside from rye bread and anise tea, What do you do with fennel?

 

[cwhit590]

obsessed...I don't really know what else fennel is used for...my family never uses / cooks with it. Maybe someone else will chime in...

Just wanted to say that they do RESEED very well! I worked at a greenhouse where they had Bronze - Leaved Fennel in the display garden...it actually makes an interesting plant in the landscaping! The dark leaves on that variety are striking, and we got a lot of comments on it. Tho if you let it go to seed, you will have volunteers coming up EVERYWHERE!!! ah!

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

If nothing else it is an interesting-looking plant. Kind of reminds me of a kohl rabi. Until this year I had never tasted a kohl rabi, now I'm trying to grow some. So perhaps next year I will try the fennel as a landscape thing and if it tastes good, well that's even better

 

[digitS']

There are 2 types of fennel (at least). I've grown both and I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't figure out a use for either.

I'm sure that the seeds would have been welcome in an herbal tea. But, they didn't have a long enuf season here to fully mature seed.

The bulb fennel can be used as HiDelight intends, in salads. I'm told that they are also good in a soup - I suppose, a cream soup. Whatever the case, the people that got the ones I grew seemed very happy with the prospect. I was left kind of going, "Uh, licorice-flavored soup . . . :/?"

Then I grew sweet fennel, which doesn't form a bulb. The bees absolutely looove the flowers! It seemed a little dangerous to walk around after the plants bloomed, late in the season. I wanted to use the seeds in tea, but as I say, it never got that far. The leaves in tea where NOT good.
So . . . fennelless, I guess I am .

Steve

Edited to say: Here's an idea, using sweet fennel in bouquets. I wouldn't wait for the plant to bloom but the foliage should make a nice addition. And, the light fragrance of the leaves may add something, too.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

As HiDelight says it is used a lot in salads, especially in Italy where the bulbous fennel is cut VERY thinly & served with a vinagrette dressing. This is very popular in throughout the Autumn period. They call it 'dead men's bones' I was told when I worked there.

Sometimes it is part-cooked & then covered in a white sauce, in a shallow baking dish & baked in the oven with a topping of breadcrumbs & Parmesan cheese (in the same way as you prepare celery or cardoons. This is very tasty as a vegetarian dish or as a side dish with a roastof meat (I like it with pork).

I have blanched finely cut slices & then laid them on a sheet of oiled aluminium foil with a cutlet of salmon or a whole trout & cooked it quickly in the oven or on the BBQ.

Talking of BBQ's & fennel I have also used the tall dry stalks of fennel as a bed to cook a whole large fish on. Delicious!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[HiDelight]

watch this video

this is how I make fennel for "everyday"

http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/meet/waters.html#


I bought a mandolin just for this salad!

Julia and Alice waters ..