Fennel -- Funiculi, Funicula!

Okay, so Fennel and "Funiculi Funicula" don't have a thing to do with each other. Funiculi, Funicula is an old Italian song, the Latin name of fennel is foeniculum, and fennel is a favorite Italian herb. Is that close enough?


Fennel is another one of those herbs that can be used in multiple ways; the leaves, seeds, and bulbs are all edible. The Romans put the dainty leaves under bread while it was baking so the fragrance would permeate the dough, and the gladiators used the seeds and leaves in their diet to give them strength. The Greeks ate the seeds to prepare for the Olympic Games. The poor chewed anise-flavored seeds to curb hunger and their wealthy, overweight, counterparts chewed them to stimulate weight loss. When the Puritans came to the New World, their sermons in their church lasted for so many hours, that the children, as well as adults, would get fidgety from their hunger. In order to curb their appetite and settle their growling stomachs, they chewed the so-named "Meetin' House Seeds."


If you decide to grow fennel in your garden, place it somewhere where it has plenty of room since it grows to be 3-4 feet tall. Be careful to plant it away from dill because they can cross pollinate. Fennel's smaller cousin, called finochio, only grows to 2 feet tall. Its leaves and seeds are just as flavorful but the prize is the bulbous leaf base. It is considered a vegetable and can be used in salads or roasted with olive oil and seasonings.

To collect seeds let the plant go to flower and harvest the seeds in the fall. Fennel seeds are that special flavor in the Italian sausage on your pizza. When I make a homemade pizza, I always sprinkle the sauce with fennel seeds before adding the vegetables, meat, and cheese. Not too much, though, or your pizza will taste like licorice!

Here's a great salad recipe that I found on the Food Network site. It works well in summertime with frsh fruit on the side.

Tomato Fennel Salad

1 1/2 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
1 small fennel bulb
2 T. good olive oil
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. cider vinegar
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

Core the tomatoes and cut into wedges. Remove the top of the fennel (save some for garnish) and slice the bulb very thinly crosswise with a sharp knife.

Toss the tomatoes and fennel in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds, season to taste, and serve.

Above the lowly plants it towers,
The fennel, with its yellow flowers... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow