i am cooking and i wanted to know what fennel is?

  • Thread starter Thread starter YOLANDA
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Fennel, also called common fennel or bronze fennel, is a plant (Foeniculum vulgare) that yields both a seed-like fruit and the leafy growth used as an herb. The variety Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum, known as Florence fennel, finocchio, or sweet anise, has a bulb with celery-like stalks, which are eaten as a vegetable. The vegetable is often confused with the vegetable part of the anise plant, and fennel "seed" may be confused with aniseed. Fennel plants are in the same family, Apiaceae, as anise, dill, cilantro, caraway, and cumin, and their flavor is similar to anise.
 
If it's calling for fennel seed, it's a seed herb/spice that you can find in the spice aisle.

If it's calling for fennel the vegetable, it looks like a small, strange celery with a fat round bottom and a wispy, fern-like top. It's a cousin of celery.

Better markets will have fresh fennel, but not every supermarket will carry it. It has a slightly sweet, interesting flavor, with a hint of licorice flavor.
 
it's either in bulb form with fronds (a big round ball with leafy greens on top) or seed form. It's used in a lot of italian cooking, like sausage. It tastes like black licorice.
The fronds can be cooked and eaten, or eaten raw like a salad.
It's all gross in my opinion.
 
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