Fresh Vegetable

Dry Wild Fennel

Ref: ARH-08

Italian name: Finocchio selvatico essiccato

Weight order: by bundle

Description: Wild fennel grows on dry slopes in Mediterranean lands. A perennial, it sends up green fronds in the springtime. The bulb, foliage, and seeds of the fennel plant are widely used in many of the culinary traditions of the world. Dried fennel seed is an aromatic, anise-flavoured spice, brown or green in colour when fresh, slowly turning a dull grey as the seed age.

Season: They grow to tall, rangy stems and, by the end of summer, bear yellow flowers, bracts of immature seeds. The seeds eventually turn brown and fall away and the plant dies back in the winter.

Serving suggestion: For cooking, green seeds are optimal. The leaves are delicately flavoured and similar in shape to those of dill. The bulb is a crisp, hardy root vegetable and may be sautéed, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw. They make a wonderful addition to a grilling fire, producing an aromatic smoke that adds a subtle flavor to sea bass or bream.