Discover Fennel with Moosewood Chef
Posted in Exhibitions, The Edible Garden on September 16th, 2010 by Plant Talk – Be the first to comment |
Kip Wilcox is a chef at Moosewood Restaurant. She will present cooking demonstrations at The Edible Garden Conservatory Kitchen on Saturday, September 18, at 1 and 3 p.m. and will sign copies of her book, Sweetness and Light, following each demonstration. |
Fennel is not exactly a household word. Indigenous to the Mediterranean, it is gaining greater visibility on the shelves of supermarkets and in the stalls of farmers markets on this side of the Atlantic. Often labeled with the misnomer sweet anise, a fennel bulb looks a bit like short, broad, greenish-hued, tightly packed stalks of celery with delicate leaves reminiscent of dill. In fact, fennel is a relative of anise and dill as well as cumin, cilantro, and caraway. As an ingredient in cooking, both the fennel bulb and seeds have many of us stumped: How do you slice it or cook the bulb? What does it taste like? What kinds of dishes can include fennel? How do you use the seeds?
There are two kinds of edible fennel. Common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a hardy perennial herb that grows in the wild and is invasive in Mediterranean climates. It reaches about five feet tall with wispy leaves and beautiful yellow flowers that produce greenish-brown seed-like fruits. Its taproot is long and tenacious, not something you would want to eat. The oil from common fennel’s seeds has been used for centuries as a digestive, diuretic, cough suppressant, soothing eyewash, and breath freshener. read more »