Fennel

Description

It is a biennial, aromatic, stout, glabrous, 1.5 to 1.8 mtr high. The ripe fruit (seed) is small, oblong, cylindrical, 6.8mm long, straight or slightly curved, greenish yellow, deeply furrowed, 5 ridged and having agreeable aroma. 

Origin and Distribution

It is a native of Europe and Asia Minor. It is cultivated extensively in Northern India as a cold weather crop. It comes up well in fairly mild climate. The dry and cold weather favours high seed production. Prolonged cloudy weather at the time of flowering is conducive to diseases and pests.

Uses

The leaves of fennel is used for garnishing. Leaves and stalks are used in salads. It is an essential ingredient in Italian sausages, widely used to sprinkle on pizza. Dried fruits have fragrant odour and pleasant aromatic taste and therefore used as a masticatory. They are also used for flavouring soups, meat dishes, sauces, pastries, confectionaries and liquors. The fruits are aromatic, stimulant and carminative.

Indian Name of Spices

Hindi : Saunf, sonp Bengali : Pan, Muhiri, Mauri Gujarati : Variari Kannada : Badi-sopu Malayalam : Perum jeerakam Marathi : Badishep Punjabi : Saunf Sanskrit : Madhurika Tamil : Shombei Telugu : Sopu, Pedda-jilakara

Foreign Name of Spices

Spanish : Hinojo French : Fenouil German : Fenchel Swedish : Fankal Arabic : Shamar Dutch : Venkel Italian : Finocchio Portuguese : Funcho Russian : Fyenkhel Japanese : Uikyo Chinese : Hui-Hsiang