Fennel

Foeniculum vulgare · Vegetable

1 variety40 pairings

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is an aromatic Mediterranean plant of the carrot family whose every part is edible — a pale, layered "bulb," crisp green stalks, feathery fronds and intensely sweet seeds. Raw, the bulb is crunchy and refreshing with a clean licorice-anise note; roasted or braised it turns silky, mellow and almost sweet, the anise softening to something nutty and caramelized.

Picking a good onedrag

Squeaky-hard, just cutLimp, browning, splitting

Shop firmThe all-rounder: raw, roast, braise, stock.Everyday best

Stalks and frondsFronds wilting, stalks still firm

Squeeze the bulbFirm, outer layer gives a little

Base and outer layerMatte, cut face beige, light scuffs

Smell at the cutFaint anise, mostly grassy

What to look for, from squeaky-hard, just cut to limp, browning, splitting.

What one gives you

72%

Usable yield

234 g · stalks, fronds and core off

325 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 3× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90-95%

It dries from the cut edges: bag it or wrap it. Greengrocers mist fennel through the day, and bare in a dry fridge the outer layers go leathery.

Airflow

Still air, not sealed

A perforated bag, not a sealed one: it wants damp, still air, but water trapped between the sheaths breeds bacterial rot.

Sensitive, damage unrecorded

Handbook 66 marks fennel ethylene-sensitive but records no symptom; keep it off the shelf with apples, pears and other ripening fruit.

Preparing