The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Herbs => Topic started by: Ghdp on May 22, 2016, 10:29:12 pm
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Have a bush of the stuff and millions of seedlings over my veg plot. We do have favourie recipes with the seeds but what should we do with this??
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The chopped leaves can be used in a white or béarnaise sauce with fish. Dig out the rest like weeds or you'll have nothing but fennel. The bees and hoverflies will thank you for it of course :bee: :bee: :bee: as they love that type of flower.
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Fennel bulb is nice roasted like thick chopped onion quarters / eighths covered in balsamic vinegar / syrup
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Have tried the fish/ white sauce idea - and it was v good FW. What age bulb are you thinking of BL ? The clump we have is fairly established we think. Do I just dig a bit up. Sounds good idea to roast.
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Bulb fennel and herb fennel are different plants, so you'll not get anything worth roasting from herb fennel I'm afraid Ghdp. :(
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And if you've sown carrots nearby you'll be flummoxed. You won't know fennel seedlings from carrot! Guess how I know.
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Wish I had some of your fennel! Widely used in Greek cooking :)
Herb fennel is great in anything that you would like a hint of aniseed aroma in (where you would otherwise like to add tarragon, or fennel seeds or bulb fennel too:
fish soup or chowder
stews with pork or chicken
any sauce or gravy for fish/pork/chicken
omelettes/scrambled eggs
goes really well in salads too :)
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Sorry Lady K i have weeded loads out. I am only up the road from you I suspect not far from Llanfair TH. if i find more seedlings would you like a Pm. Good ideas tho. Have used it in salad and will try the others. Scrambled egg sounds particularly good
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I know bulb fennel is different from herb fennel but can you use the tops of bulb fennel like the herb?
I was at an organic farm shop today and they were selling 'fennel tops' for 20p and bulbs separately, and I THINK they're from the same plants, but not sure.
Also, I've fennel here for the first time (bulbs in the raised bed and herb in a pot) and not sure when to harvest the bulbs, they're pretty big now so I'm guessing this week - do they go woody at some point, bolt, or just get huge? And do they freeze or will they keep in the ground like carrots until needed?
It seemed a good idea to try new veg but of course I've no clue what to do with what I have grown now!
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Hi ellied
Get 'em while they're young and smallish. In my experience there's not much pleasure in trying to gnaw your way through a woody fennel, roasted or any other way.
Piggers
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I've added dill weed & herb fennel to hot sweet spiced vinegar for pickling cucumber & also for pickling some of our Dwarf French & wax beans
We liked the aniseed taste it , but the cuc stuff needs to be consumed before the cucs go a light khaki slimy colour as they are past their best by then ( but still edible for some folk ) .
I guess that seven months in the cool store cupboard is the max we should have kept them without eating them .
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I know bulb fennel is different from herb fennel but can you use the tops of bulb fennel like the herb?
Yep!
I was at an organic farm shop today and they were selling 'fennel tops' for 20p and bulbs separately, and I THINK they're from the same plants, but not sure.
Very smart ad resourceful :)
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We've had the same in our veg plot - next year i'm bagging the seedheads to stop that happening again. Use wise I like to make fennel (and other herb) oils , by putting a good handful of the herb in a 250ml bottle topping up with olive oil and leaving to stand in a warm place (mine is on the kitchen windowsil) for 3-6 months ... these make nice home made presents in sets of three flavours , but also for your own use its an easy way to get a herby kick into anything you want to fry or roast
Another option is to blend it up with some butter and then roll it up in some cling film (to about the diameter of a ten p) and stick it in the fridge. Once its chilled you can cut it into slices and wrap each one in a bit of foil to freeze (alternately push the butter into an icecube tray and freeze) - again gives you a little flavour bomb when you need it - great for roasting fish
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I'd also add after a frustrating day digging over the veg beds that those baby fennels are an absolute swine to dig out if you don't pull them when they are teeny - mine had forked taproots going down about a foot and they were only from this year.
The parent plant which was 3 years old had roots about 2.5 ft long - longer in fact as that's how deep i was when it finally broke off leaving the far ends in the soil. - Next year the fennel is going in a tub