I have bronze and green fennel growing in my flower bed. Is there anything I can do with it? dry it, use it in cooking and how, or just let it go since it is not bulb fennel. Thanks. C
Carolyn, If you roast a chicken, stuff it with several fennel fronds and a small onion halved. The infusion of flavor is wonderful! Also, I like to chop a few very tender fennel fronds and sprinkle them over green beans. Again, the flavor imparted is subtle, but great. Works with peas, too. If you have old fronds, cut them, wet them down and lay them on the grill. Put a salmon or almost any other fish filet on top, then put a bit of chopped fennel leaf on top. Drizzle with melted butter and enjoy. We find tilapia to be bland, but treated this way it's a gourmet dish. Fennel can be substituted in poulet a l'estragon also.
That sounds good Jane, I think I'll go get a volunteer chicken out of the freezer right now and see if I can't get it thawed for supper.
YUM! I keep it in the house all the time. If you had the bulb kind (at store all the time) you could fry it with bacon and then add brussel sprouts. I also use it in pot roasts with all the veggies. You can chop the main part and freeze it in a zip lock bag and save the fronds also. I freeze them also and grab a handful when ever I want some. Even my sister likes it now and she hates everything. LOL Barb in Pa.
Ive read that mixed with peppermint leaves, it makes a good tea (havent tried this myself). Tea made from the seeds helps with gas, dyspepsia, stomachache, and colic. You can also use it in fish sauces, fennel soup and salads. Its also used as a flea repellant
This sounds like the herb fennel, not the vegetable (bulb) fennel. Both the green and the bronze fennel can be used. The fronds are best in the spring, very flavorful, can use in salads, in stuffing, sauces. Later on the leaves have a milder flavor, very pretty as a garnish. The flower buds are yellow, and are edible. Green seeds are very strong flavored. When they are mature, the birds love them, and will attract birds. The mature or dried fennel seeds are used in cooking, breads, sauces, etc. The fennel stalks can be used in a wood barbeque or smoker, or placed under fish or meat in cooking. This can become an invasive herb. The bulb fennel has both male and female bulbs. The female bulb is rounder, and has more flavor. The male is a flatter bulb. So look for the rounder bulbs if purchasing in the market.
I didn't have a problem with it. I started with plants from one of the vendors from my farmers market. They were nice to start with, but I probably should have planted them where they got more sun. I planted them in a flower bed on the east side of the house and I tossed in some sunflower seeds and then some parsley plants and then some marigolds......so I did crowd it a little bit. I now see the seeds I also put out there for green fennel this spring have finally have germinated, also. Oh yeah, I also planted something called pumpkin on a stick in there, too. So needless to say it could have probably done a little better. I guess I should restrain myself, huh?
i did the same with my cosmos and gazania this year, totally ignored the spacing instructions and a fair few suffered for it. but its good because i wont make the same mistake again. does it grow quite tall the bronze stuff??
I don't know what mine was but it came back every year for about 3 years. I finally pulled it out and ate it. LOL ( photo / image / picture from waretrop's Garden )
Lukey, the bronze fennel isn't as strong a grower as the green. It doesn't get too tall (about 2' here in Texas) and needs just a bit more shade than the green, in my experience. It is absolutely gorgeous, though!
Luke, mine didn't grow exceptionally tall, maybe 30", the green was still taller and set seed, whereas the bronze didn't.
thanks guys. may have to go for the green :-? was looking at something for the back of my border to hide the fence a little, something tall but not to bulky. the foliage looks great against other plants and it tastes good too :-D
can it be dried and used? I dried some, but it doesn't smell like anything nor is there much of it once it dries down :-?
Fennel freezes better than it dries. I freeze the fronds on a cookie sheet, then transfer them to a freezer bag. The seeds dry and store well. Just wait until the seed head turns from yellowish-green to brown, then snip the entire seed head and let it fall into a paper bag. The seeds will finish drying in the bag and then can be stored in a jar in a dark, cool place.
