Life's Bounty

My Lifestyle Blog

  • Home
  • Travel
    • General
      • Armchair Inspiration
      • Travel Tips
    • Africa & Middle East
      • Morocco
      • Dubai
      • Egypt
      • Jordan
    • Asia
      • Borneo
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Nepal & Bhutan
        • Bhutan
        • Nepal
      • Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
        • Cambodia
        • Laos
        • Thailand
        • Vietnam
    • Australasia & Pacific
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
      • Vanuatu
    • Europe
      • Denmark
      • England
      • Greenland
      • Iceland
      • Russia, Belarus and the Baltic States
      • Spain & Portugal
    • Latin America
      • Ecuador & Galapagos
      • Mexico, Guatemala & Belize
      • Peru
    • North America
      • Canada
  • Garden
    • General
    • Maintenance
    • Plants
  • Kitchen
    • Recipes
    • Drinks
    • Equipment
    • Preserving Methods
  • Craftroom
    • Bath & Beauty
    • Cards
    • Featured Artists
    • Jewellery
    • Other crafts
    • Powertex
  • Gift Ideas
  • About Me

Growing and Cooking Bulb Fennel

November 2, 2014 By sue 1 Comment

Fennel is often grown as a herb, for its feathery leaves and seeds, and is used in salads, soups, fish dishes and teas.  The seeds are often chewed after a meal to help the digestion – particularly in India.  There are several different sorts of fennel and some species of fennel produce a crunchy white ‘bulb’ from the swollen stem bases of the leaves.  They have an aniseed-like flavour and are also good for the digestion. The most important thing is to make sure you buy the right kind of fennel if you want the bulbs: you need to get ‘Bulbing Fennel’ – also called Florence fennel or finocchio.

P1040601
P1040602

They are a cool weather, short-lived perennial plant generally grown as an annual.  They are apparently best when they mature in cooler weather.  I planted mine in late autumn which should have been perfect but the plants just sat there for several months not really doing anything at all.  Being in Auckland, they certainly weren’t short of water.  But come late September they suddenly started to grow.

Harvest the bulbs when they are about tennis ball size (they get fibrous and bitter as they get bigger).  Cut off at the base of the bulb and trim the stems back to a couple of centimetres above the bulb.  The stems can be cooked as a vegetable as well – or used as a garnish.

It wasn’t quite salad season so I decided to try cooking my first harvest:  Braised Fennel

  • Cut the bulbs in half and brown them in oil for about 5 minutes, then add garlic and fresh oregano (as well as some baby carrots) and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  • Then add a cup of vegetable stock and simmer until it reduces by about half.
  • I served them sprinkled with Hazelnut Cumin Dukkah and garnished with fennel leaves. Delicious!
P1040616
P1040617

For my second (and sadly final for this year) harvest I made a Fennel, Apple and Walnut Salad:

  • thinly slice fennel bulb and apple (skin on); carrot as well if you like
  • make a dressing of 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • top with walnut pieces and garnish with fennel leaves
P1040775
P1040777

Share this:

  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Garden, Plants Tagged With: Herbs, Vegetables

Comments

  1. Stephanie Parkes says

    November 2, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    The recipes look and sound delicious!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Life’s Bounty is about all the things I enjoy experiencing, creating, and sharing. Join me as I travel in search of new experiences; coax more produce from my backyard in Auckland, New Zealand and preserve the harvested bounty; and try my hand at making anything from cider to jewellery to cards to gift packs of soap.
Adventure Tours Australia
Peregrine Adventures AU

Connect with me

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Sign up for weekly updates

Categories

Tags

Apple Arctic Armchair Inspiration Aubergine Australia Banana Bath and Beauty Berries Bhutan Blueberries Broad Beans Card Techniques Cheese-making China Chutney and Relish Courgette Drinks Edible Flowers Eggplant Feijoas Figs Galapagos Gift Ideas Ginger Greenland Guatemala Herbs Iceland Jams Jellies and Marmalades Jewellery Techniques Lemon Lime Mexico Nepal Preserving Recipe Recipes Russia & Baltic States Sculpture Strawberries Tomato Travel Travel Tips Vegetables Zucchini

Copyright © 2022 Sue from Life's Bounty · Log in

Posting....
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.