Fennel

Fennel seeds contain trans-anethole, the compound behind the anise aroma and behind most of the traditional medicinal claims. Research on fennel has looked at its antispasmodic effect on intestinal smooth muscle, which is the mechanism usually offered for its long use against bloating and cramping, and trials have examined fennel preparations in irritable bowel syndrome and in infantile colic.

Anethole also shows antimicrobial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory activity in laboratory work, and has been studied for estrogenic activity at high doses, which is relevant to the traditional use of fennel in lactation and menstrual discomfort. The seeds are a reasonable source of dietary fibre, manganese and antioxidants.

These are areas of active study rather than settled conclusions, and the doses used in research are generally larger than the amount in a spoonful of after-meal seeds.

Fennel runs through Mediterranean history from the beginning. It appears in Greek mythology, where Prometheus carries fire to humanity in a fennel stalk, and the Greeks called the plant marathon, which is how the town of Marathon got its name. Roman agricultural writers catalogued it, medieval European herbalism counted it among nine sacred herbs, and it travelled with colonists to the Americas, where it naturalised so successfully that it is now treated as invasive in California.

It reached China along the same trade routes more than a thousand years ago and was absorbed on different terms. Chinese cooking took the dried seed and essentially ignored the vegetable, the reverse of what happened in Italy and France. The seed settled into five-spice blends and into braising liquids for pork and lamb across northern and Sichuan cooking, and traditional Chinese medicine made it one of its most frequently prescribed digestive herbs.

In India the seed arrived early enough to appear in some of the oldest Ayurvedic texts. The habit of chewing roasted saunf after a meal is older than those texts, and it survives today as the bowl of seeds by the door of almost every Indian restaurant.

Indian cooking uses the whole seed in tempering and in pickles, the ground seed in Kashmiri and Bengali dishes, and the roasted seed on its own as after-meal saunf. It is one of the five seeds in panch phoron, the Bengali blend. Kashmiri cooking leans on fennel powder heavily, partly because the Pandit tradition avoids onion and garlic and needs the aromatics elsewhere.

Chinese cooking uses it almost entirely as a dried spice. It goes whole into braising liquids for pork, lamb and duck, into master stocks, and into five-spice powder alongside star anise, cassia, clove and Sichuan peppercorn. Northern Chinese cooking pairs it with lamb for dumplings and stir-fries.

European cooking takes the other half of the plant. The bulb is eaten raw in salads, braised or roasted, the fronds are used like dill as a finishing herb, and the seed goes into sausages, fish dishes and bread. Fennel pairs well with fish, pork, citrus and tomato.

Toast the seeds in a dry pan before use, thirty seconds or so, until they smell sweet and turn one shade darker. Go past that and they turn bitter.

Crack them lightly in a mortar to use whole, or grind them for spice blends and for Kashmiri dishes that call for fennel powder. Whole seeds hold their aroma far longer than ground, so buy whole and grind as needed.

For long-cooked Chinese braises, add the seeds whole and fish them out before serving. For after-meal saunf, dry-roast until lightly golden and toasty, cool completely, then store with rock sugar in a sealed jar.