The benefits of fennel seed
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What fennel seed does
What this vegetable does
It warms the stomach, clears cold and eases feeling the cold and swelling.
How to eat it
Added to a tea, it clears cold from the body and can be looked to for easing poor digestion.
A yakuzen note
Fennel seed is held to clear cold and ease the cold, swelling and pain. It is also held to lift the circulation of qi, which eases pain.
Fennel seed is a pungent spice, warm in nature, held to warm the body from within, settle the circulation of qi and clear the stomach. It suits daily care when you feel the cold, or when your stomach feels heavy after a meal, and it is also loved as something to clear the palate after eating. It is easy to use in small amounts, in tea or to flavour a dish.
TOC
When fennel seed is harvested, the kinds, and how to choose
If you want to bring in the aroma of fennel seed and what it does, deliciously, knowing when it is harvested, the kinds and how to choose makes it easier to use. Its appeal is a sweet, cooling aroma, and it is a seed spice used in cooking around the world.
It comes from fennel, and the seed ripens in autumn
Fennel seed is the dried seed of fennel, an umbellifer herb. Fennel flowers in small yellow blooms in early summer, and the slender seeds ripen from summer into autumn and are dried for use. In kampo it is called shouikyo, and yakuzen has long been fond of it. The raw material has its harvest season, but as a dried spice it is available all year and can go into cooking or tea at any time. Kept whole, the aroma lasts longer.
Sweet, bitter and the bulb type
Fennel comes in several types, differing in aroma and in the part used.
| kinds | What stands out |
|---|---|
| Sweet fennel | A sweet, cooling aroma. The seed is the standard for tea and for clearing the palate |
| Bitter fennel | A slightly bitter, powerful aroma. For spiced cooking |
| Florence fennel | The type where the swollen bulb is eaten as a vegetable. For salads and stews |
Sweet fennel seed for tea and for clearing the palate, bitter fennel where you want the aroma to come through: choose by use. The seed comes whole and ground; whole holds the aroma longer, ground mixes straight into a dish, so choose as you prefer.
How to choose it and how to use it
When choosing good fennel seed, these points make it easier to tell.
- A bright greenish colour, not faded to brown
- A sweet, cooling aroma that comes through strongly when the packet is opened
- For an aroma that lasts, whole seed rather than ground
Toasting fennel seed lightly in a dry pan brings the aroma further forward. Put it in a frying pan over a low heat and take it off as soon as the aroma rises, and the roasted note comes out. Crushing it roughly in a mortar or a mill helps the aroma carry into a dish. It is strongly aromatic, so adding it a little at a time and adjusting to taste works well.
How to use fennel seed
Fennel seed works widely, from cooking to tea to clearing the palate, drawing on its sweet, cooling aroma. Here are the standard ways.
In curries and spiced cooking
Where the aroma of fennel seed most comes into its own is in spiced cooking, curry above all. In Indian cooking it is heated in oil with cumin and mustard seed to carry the aroma across before use. It is also essential to panch phoron, the Bengali spice mix. Paired with rich ingredients such as sausage, pork or oily fish, its fresh aroma cuts through the fat. Added to a tomato stew, to pickles or to bread dough, its cooling aroma is a pleasure.
As fennel tea and to clear the palate
Fennel seed is also loved as tea and as something to clear the palate. Fennel tea, made by pouring hot water over the seeds, has a sweet, gentle aroma exactly right for a moment after a meal. It can be blended with black tea or other herbs. In India there is a custom of taking sugared fennel, mukhwas, after a meal, to freshen the mouth with the aroma. Chewing dry-toasted seeds fills the mouth with a cooling aroma. Taking it as a hot tea when you want to warm up is worth trying too.
How to keep fennel seed
Fennel seed is vulnerable to damp, light and air, and left alone the aroma goes. Keep it in an airtight container somewhere cool and dark, away from direct sunlight and damp. To hold the aroma longer, keep it whole rather than ground and toast or grind it just before use. Grinding only as much as you need, rather than a lot at once, keeps the aroma in. If you will not use it for a while, sealing it and putting it in the freezer holds the aroma better.
Alongside this, it is worth knowing about The benefits of ginger and a warm spice likewise used to flavour cooking, The benefits of nutmeg as a guide when working with spices.
Fennel seed, known for its sweet, cooling aroma, is the spice that stays alongside you when you want to warm the body, in curries and spiced cooking, in fennel tea and after a meal. Sweet fennel and powerful bitter fennel: choosing by use brings out what each has. For daily care when the cold, or a heavy stomach after eating, is on your mind, bring fennel seed into your life.
