This week and last, our shares included generous allotments of fennel, or Foeniculum vulgare. Fennel is a member of the Apiaceae plant family which also includes carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, anise, dill, queen anne's lace, and poison hemlock!
This family can best be recognized by its inflorescence, or group of flowers. Have you noticed that dill, fennel, and queen anne's lace seem to have similar flowers? This is true for the majority of species in this group.
You can eat the bulb, foliage, (leaves), flowers, and seeds of the fennel plant--which means you can eat it all!
There are lots of fennel recipes available online that utilize different parts of the plant. However, this recipe of fennel in wine and honey is simple and delicious, making it perfect for summer:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/95546/fennel-in-wine-and-honey/
Pictured:
Foeniculum vulgare Miller [as Foeniculum capillaceum Gilib.]
Köhler, F.E., Medizinal Pflanzen, vol. 2: t. 88 (1890)
From the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Missouri Botanical Garden
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