What to do with fennel?

October 3, 2012 at 10:45 pm (How to cook)

A colleague recently asked me what I do with fennel.  I figured the easiest way to answer is to simply post a list of my favorite fennel recipes.

Favorite fennel recipes

Raw fennel:

• Very thinly sliced and added to any green salad, or cut into thicker chunks and eaten with a dip like hummus.
• In a warm or cold salad with beets and hard-cooked eggs
• In a coleslaw, for example with apples, red cabbage, and pomegranate

Cooked fennel:

• Braised in vegetable broth or in white wine
• Thinly sliced in soup, with white beans and rosemary (or sage), with chickpeas and tomatoes, or with mushrooms and noodles
• Steamed with a vinaigrette
• Lots of people like roasted fennel, but I haven’t mastered the art of roasting it.  It always seems to burn or get dried-out and tough.

If you have a favorite fennel recipe, please post a link in the comments!

When is Fennel in season?

Fennel doesn’t have a clear season.  In theory it can be grown as a perennial plant, but it can’t withstand hard freezes, nor does it enjoy hot weather, so most often it’s grown as an annual.  Depending on the climate, it may be harvested in summer, fall, or winter, and sometimes even in spring!  In colder climates fennel is planted in early spring after the last frost.  After germination, fennel requires between 75 and 115 days before it’s ready to harvest. So if fennel seedlings are planted in April they could be ready to harvest sometime in July.  In Pittsburgh I used to get fennel in my CSA box in July, and then again in October and November.  The GrowNYC website lists fennel as in season in October and November, implying that it’s planted in New York in early summer.   In moderate climates like California fennel is often planted in late summer, whereas in warmer climates, like Texas, it’s most often planted in autumn, and ready for harvesting sometime in the winter.  If there are no hard freezes, autumn-planted fennel can even survive the winter and be harvested in early spring.

A word about nutrition.

Despite its wan appearance, fennel is not just empty calories.  It’s an excellent source of vitamin C, a very good source of potassium, and a good source of many other minerals.  One medium bulb (234g or 8.25 oz) has just 73 calories (3.7% of a 2000 calorie diet) but when eaten raw supplies 47% of the RDA of vitamin C, 28% of potassium, 16% of folate, 12% of calcium, 10% of iron, 10% of magnesium, and 8% of vitamin B3 (Niacin).  It also provides 7.25g of fiber (29% of the RDA of 25mg a day).  Finally, Fennel contains many phytonutrients that act as powerful antioxidants.

Storage

Fennel seems to last quite a while in the fridge, if it’s not cut up.  If it’s sliced and left in a tupperware overnight, however, it turns brown pretty quickly.  Anyone know why?  Why doesn’t the vitamin C protect it from oxidation?

You can save any cut-out cores, bottom slides, and green stalks  in the freezer, and use them when you make vegetable broth.  Many vegetable broth recipes call for fennel stalks instead of celery.  I often use both.  Or save the cores for a mixed-vegetable braise along with chard stems and whatever other veggies you have on hand.  The hearts of the fennel get the best texture when braised.