Fennel Seed

Fennel seed is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb like stem base that is used as a vegetable. Fennel yields both an herb and a spice. All plant parts are edible: roots, stalks and leaves, with the spice coming from the dried seeds. A native to the Mediterranean, Fennel is an ancient and common plant known to the ancient Greeks and spread throughout Europe by Imperial Rome. Fennel is also grown in India, the Orient, Australia, South America and has become naturalized in the US.