Wild Crafted Fennel

The licorce flavored ferny looking herb that could easily be mistaken for dill, is wild fennel. There are two kinds of fennel; one is grown for the bulb, the other is the one in your basket, grown for the ferny top. I tried something interesting that should definately be tried for St. Patrick's Day next year:

I followed a standard sugar cookie recipe. I cut maybe a fourth of the fennel bunch tops into the cuisinart with all the sugar required and hit blend. What resulted was a bright (and I do mean shockingly bright) green sugar. I then made those cookies with that sugar. The result was a gently licorce flavored cookie that was so green it looked like it had to be dyed. Try it!



Chef Mark Mcdonald says he's using the fennel in a pasta dish.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh. I totally thought it was fancy dill. Anyway, I treated it just like dill, making a yummy lemon dill( I mean fennel) marinade that's great on chicken, fish, and veggies. My husband and I thought we hated fennel, but apparently not after all (shrugs).
April 30, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harvest Ticket, Page One

Image
..... Collards are here this week. Mild flavored and nutrient dense, these leafy greens are often overlooked but are worth a try! Be careful not to overcook--like other cruciferous veggies--overcooked collards have an unpleasant odor. A cancer preventing cruciferous vegetable--recent studies indicate that steamed collard greens have the greatest cholesteral-lowering ability of all leafy greens. Read more about collards at this link: http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?dbid=138&tname=foodspice Mizuna is new in our boxes this week, too. Milder flavored than typical arugula; this popular Japanese leafy green will add some zip to an otherwise mundane salad. The sawtoothed spicy leaves can be added to soups, added as a raw chopped garnish on a cooked dish, or steamed like spinach with perhaps some drizzled Califiornia olive oil and a dash of well aged parmesan cheese. Finally, Ghandi's reportedly favorite food: purslane is here for a few weeks before the cold kills it back. The herb ...
Read more

Mandatory Pasteurization Concerns

This just landed in my e-mail box: Mandatory Pasteurization of Almonds as of September 1st, 2007 has taken effect . From now on it's impossible, in fact, illegal, to get raw Almonds in the United States. Nuts sold as "raw" are not actually raw any more, but processed. Here's what Jason Sinclaire has to say on that subject: "Truly raw almonds, with their enzymes intact, are a living, nutrition-packed food. Raw almonds that have been soaked and sprouted are nutritionally superior food to heated almonds, and are more easily assimilated in the digestive process. Heating almonds over 112 degrees destroys their enzymes, and greatly diminishes their nutritional value. Heating also leads to rancidity of nuts." Every almond sold commercially from here on out has to be pasteurized. Also, let's keep an eye on almond pricing, because almond growers are now required by law to truck their almonds to one of five just-built USDA approved pasteurization facilities in Cal...
Read more

Chicken News

I'm not sure where to begin. There are times when I suppose all farmers feel like farming is handing them their ass. This month could certainly count as that for me. Six months ago predators killed our egg laying chickens and after a few months of reflecting, we ordered more through the mail. Determined to protect these new pets, we built what neighbors and friends have jokingly referred to as "Chicken Fort Knox." We encirlced a portion of the macadamia grove with six foot coyote proof fencing, and then electrified the whole thing for good measure. Every one of us here at one time or another has made the mistake of leaning against the fencing and gotten blasted. There's a reason an electrical jolt is called a "shock." It truly is shocking ; as in mometarily enducing tears. Don't let the little solar powered gizmo that sends the power into this fence fool you. It means business. So I guess we were fairly confident of our chickens' safety. We planned t...
Read more