{"id":1937969,"date":"2023-12-12T15:09:30","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T21:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1937969"},"modified":"2024-07-30T18:34:15","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T23:34:15","slug":"what-is-fennel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/what-is-fennel\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Fennel and How Do You Cook It?"},"content":{"rendered":"It's always fun finding out what certain foods are. Especially if you've been eating them for years. How many times have you cooked a chicken piccata and wondered, what are capers<\/em><\/a>? Or when you started cooking Middle Eastern recipes and wondered, what is za'atar<\/em>?\r\n\r\nThe same might go for the celery and dill-looking hybrid you've seen listed in ingredients for soups and salads: what is fennel<\/em>? It's not celery or dill, but surely you've thought it looked like it was in the same family. In reality, fennel is like a cousin to celery, carrots, parsnips and parsley, with a bigger body and a much more pronounced flavor profile.\r\n

What is fennel?<\/h2>\r\n\"Ripe\r\n\r\nFennel is a perennial herb that loves to spread in the garden. It's a favorite of bees and pollinators as much as chefs. Part of fennel's charm is that almost every part of it is usable, and each part offers a very different texture.\r\n\r\nThere's the bulb, with its celery-like ribs; the fronds, used as seasoning like dill; and the fennel flowers, which produce fennel pollen, a gentle yellow powder with a slight honeyed sweetness. Finally, there are the fennel seeds, a mainstay in Chinese five spice<\/a> and foods like turkey sausage patties and vegetable soup.\r\n

What does fennel taste like?<\/h2>\r\nFennel has a licorice taste that permeates every part of the plant. The anise flavoring is far more present in raw fennel, particularly the bulb and the seeds. As fennel cooks, the strength of the flavor mellows out and, like the vegetable itself, becomes softer.\r\n

How do you cut fennel?<\/h2>\r\nTo start, cut the stalks away from the bulb. Slice the core in half vertically, and carefully cut out the hard heart of the bulb on both sides. Peel away any imperfect outer leaves carefully.\r\n\r\nHandle the rest of the bulb multiple ways: You can slice it the short way, resulting in half rounds. You can slice it the long way, which will result in long planks of fennel that can be easily layered, like eggplant. Because of its resiliency, you can also just chop the fennel to your desired size.\r\n\r\nFennel stalks tend to be tough and are best used for flavoring rather than cooking. Chop off the fronds and use as instructed via the recipe you're following. For instance, you can use chopped raw fennel frond as a garnish, like you'd use sprigs of dill. The stalks are frequently used for making gravlax, a type of cured salmon.\r\n\r\nFennel pollen is collected while the plant is growing, by dusting flower heads into a container to collect the precious yellow clouds. You can then use the pollen to flavor chicken and vegetable dishes. Flowers from the herb that are allowed to keep growing produce seeds, and those are easily harvested by simply pulling them off the plant in fall.\r\n

How to Cook Fennel<\/h2>\r\n

Raw Fennel<\/h3>\r\n\"Fresh\r\n\r\nFennel, just shaved or sliced thin, is remarkable in salads (like this citrus fennel salad<\/a> or fennel-jicama salad). Consider shaved fennel and Parmesan drizzled with olive oil and salt as an alternative to a beef carpaccio. In any application you'd add shaved raw beets, fennel could be substituted.\r\n\r\nDue to its bite, it's great in a slaw cut a little more generously. Create matchsticks with fennel for a spicy addition to an apple or radish slaw. Consider it an alternative for celery here.\r\n

Sauteed Fennel<\/h3>\r\n\"Fresh\r\n\r\nIf you give fennel a kiss of heat and fat, either with butter or oil, it softens the stalk or bulb just enough to be crunchy and bright without being chewy. Sauteed fennel in stir-fry can replace or augment your celery, or it can stand alone as a side, like this fennel spinach saute<\/a>.\r\n

Braised Fennel<\/h3>\r\nWhen you cook the fennel generously, either in broth or butter or some other fat, it softens to the point of no resistance. It becomes creamy and silken and can be a healthful alternative to a gratin.\r\n

Substitutes for Fennel<\/h2>\r\n