Fantastic Fennel

Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare

One of my favorite soups in the world is fennel potato soup. So, of course I have to grow fennel. Fennel seeds are used to add sweet anise-like flavor to the foods of many regional cuisines and liquors. You wouldn’t have good Italian sausage without fennel seed. Try grilling fish over fennel stalks with a few on top with butter. Delicious. Explore fennel; you won’t be disappointed. Fennel leaf is commonly added to sauces and mayonnaise. Fennel is also an ingredient in many kinds of breads and cakes.

My first personal experience with the fennel plant was three decades ago in California where it is naturalized all over the place, in empty lots and on the sides of freeways. It is indigenous to the coasts of the Mediterranean where it is a staple. It also plays in one of my favorite stories of all time: in Greek mythology, Prometheus steals fire from Hephaestus using a dried stalk of fennel to give to humans who were just sad creatures wandering in the dark, cold and pathetic. Without fire humans would still be wandering around in the dark at the mercy of the elements with no light or warmth, so we owe a lot to this wonderful herb. Thanks, Prometheus!

wild fennel

Wild fennel, as found in California, is also seen naturalized in places in Arizona like Bisbee. This is not the fennel I’d encourage you to grow. It’s somewhat weedy and lacks the thickened stems that are prized for soups, roasting, and more. But if you live in bisbee, feel free to forage the plant to use the thinner stems or leaves for flavoring—the flavor is still there. More about varieties below.

You will need to think about exactly how much fennel you want before you grow it. It’s not a friendly companion plant for many plants, save mint, sage and other mint family plants. The best plan: once you decide on the importance of fennel for you and know the space you need to grow enough, you reserve a spot JUST FOR FENNEL. That is the hardest part. Fennel is easy to germinate and easy to grow. It is a cool season annual in Tucson (planted in fall), but you will need to protect it from the hard frosts we occasionally get. If you don’t, it’s not a big deal—you’ll normally just have a few damaged leaves.

Average garden soil is sufficient with maybe occasional fish emulsion or kelp, and compost tea is always good. Give them room and full sun. Some shade is ok, but they tend to get aphids if there is too much, also shade makes them lanky and ugly.

Florence fennel particularly gets big. And pretty. They get an average of 3 feet tall in Tucson. Once you harvest each crop, plant a new succession. You can hook your friends on fennel and trade for some other cool stuff. If you want more of the tender bulb, pile up mulch around the base to blanch more of the stalk.

Florence Fennel (and its variations) is the most important (in my opinion). It produces the those delicious bulbs. Many of the other fennels on the market lack this bulb and I am not sure why anyone would grow them since their leaves are no better than Florence fennel leaves. There are some European varieties that are grown for the seed.

Bronze Fennel is mostly grown because it is pretty.

Fennel is a host for the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). They will eat the leaves but not the bulbs, and this won’t hurt the plant. The biggest inconvenience is the cosmetic one.

Giant fennel (Ferula communis) is a large, coarse plant, with a pungent aroma, which grows wild in the Mediterranean region and is only occasionally grown in gardens elsewhere. Other species of the genus Ferula are also commonly called giant fennel, but they are not culinary herbs.

Ferula foetida, the source of asafoetida, a popular spice in India

Asafoetida is a staple spice in Indian cuisine that enhances the umami or savoriness of food, and is made from the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula (F. foetida and F. assa-foetida), perennial herbs growing 3 to 5‘ tall. I have not grown these species here, but I presume they’d have similar requirements, but need a bit more space.