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Video: Common Fennel: Features Of Growth And Development, Use In Medicine And Cooking
Fennel is both a doctor and a culinary specialist
Common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare mill.) Is called pharmaceutical dill, voloshsky dill. The homeland of fennel is considered to be the Mediterranean - Southern Europe and Asia Minor. In the wild, it is found in the Crimea and the Caucasus.
If ordinary dill is familiar to everyone, then its closest relative, fennel, is less known. However, even the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Indians and Chinese valued it as a spice and medicine. He got to Central Europe in the Middle Ages. Currently, fennel is cultivated in production conditions and in gardens, not only in its homeland, but also in North and South America, China, East India, and the CIS countries.
Fennel value
The chemical composition of the leaves and fruits of fennel is similar to that of dill, but the former is richer in essential oils. The fennel fruit tastes sweet and smells like anise. Fennel fruit has the same medicinal value as anise. All parts of fennel, especially seeds, contain an essential oil (in fruits - up to 20% oil), which contains up to 60% anethole, 10-12% fenchol, pinene, camphene, methylchavicol and anise aldehyde. The seeds are rich in fatty oil (up to 18%). Greens and fruits contain vitamins: C, carotene (provitamin A), B1, B2, P, nicotinic and folic acids and a relatively deficient vitamin E (antioxidant). Fennel has an expectorant and disinfectant effect. It is used as a stomach remedy, as a digestive and tonic, and as a carminative for flatulence, chronic colitis, constipation.
Fennel is used in bread baking, confectionery, perfumery, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Features of growth and development
Fennel is a biennial plant. There are varieties of vegetable fennel, in which, in addition to leaves and seeds, large thickenings of the sheaths of the root leaves are used for food.
The use of fennel in medicine
Particularly popular is "dill water", which is prepared from fennel seeds and used as a carminative for bloating in young children. It is taken one teaspoon several times a day. "Drops of the Danish King" are also made using fennel fruits.
Fennel fruits are used, like anise, as a cough remedy and expectorant: 1-2 teaspoons of chopped fruits are poured like tea with one glass of boiling water and drunk chilled one tablespoon several times a day.
In folk medicine, fennel is used as a tea infusion for pain in the abdomen, coughs and insomnia.
The use of fennel in cooking
Fennel has a spicy, sweet aroma reminiscent of anise. Its taste is sweetish, slightly spicy. Fennel is especially widely used in the cuisine of the peoples of Indochina, France and Italy. The fruits are used to prepare aromatic water, aromatic alcohol, syrups and medicinal teas. Aromatic essential oil is obtained from them by distillation. As a spice, fennel is used in the production of liqueurs, confectionery, mainly biscuits, pies and puddings. It is rightfully popular in the preparation of fish dishes, especially carp, mayonnaise, soups, sauces, and, on a smaller scale, compotes. It gives a pleasant taste to sauerkraut, pickles and cold cuts.
Fennel is also used fresh. Young shoots and leaves, as well as unripe umbrellas, add a subtle flavor to the marinades for salads, they are used in canning cucumbers and other vegetables and sauerkraut. Fennel sauces go with pork, offal dishes, cold fish.
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