September 2, 2020 • 27 mins
This lightly anise-flavored vegetable is used for its bulb, stalks, fronds, and seeds alike. Anney and Lauren dig into the science and history of fennel.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about Fennel. And it's been a super educational one
for me because I literally did not know what it
was when you suggested it. Lauren. Oh wow, I would like,
like really like, oh my god. Okay, so ay, I
(00:28):
promised that you've had it you Yeah, I promised that
you have. You've probably had the vegetable part of it,
and you've definitely had the spice part of it. And
this explains your confusion when I when I suggested the
topic as a alternate to Annis, which um, which a
lovely listener wrote in requesting and I started looking into
(00:53):
it and there's so so much like animalogical historical confusion
between Annis and star Nice and like your star Annis,
how do you? I've always said star Nice, but it's
Annis anyway. Um. Yeah, there's the even beyond my pronunciation confusion,
like the words historically have been mixed up a lot.
(01:15):
And so I was like, not today, satan um, but
let's do Fennel um and he was like, okay, I
literally could not have told you anything about it. I
did not know what it was. I was like, it
could be a nerve, it could be a plant. I
don't know. I don't know, but when seeing pictures of it,
(01:36):
I was like, Okay, I've seen that before. Yeah, it's
it's in grocery stores. It's it's fairly common. And gosh,
I love it. Um, I love I love licorice flavored
things in general, and like like a thin sliced fennel root,
like fennel bulb, salad um with them with supreme citrus.
Oh gosh, one of my favorite things on the whole
(01:58):
planet that sound delicious. It's one of those things where
I'm like, I can't really I have no plate context
or what that would be, but it sounds like. Well, um,
I guess this brings us to our question, Yes, what
(02:23):
is it? Well? Uh, Fennel is a vegetable in the
carrot family um apace. I think, yeah. It's known for
its Anna's flavor. The botanical name is a phiniculum vulgarre,
and it grows a varyingly thick white bulb above ground
um about the size of an onion, and like an onion,
(02:45):
each layer of that bulb is a support structure for
a stalk um that that shoots up from that bulb
with a spray of these tiny feathery green leaves that
that looks like a like like dil kind of and
it is related to dill and closely enough that I
have seen this warning on gardening blogs. You you should
not plant dill and fennel next to each other because
(03:06):
they might cross pollinate and you could wind up with
uncertain flavors. You don't cross the streams unless there's a
marshmallow giant then you do. Then you do, but otherwise
otherwise don't. Yeah. Um, those stocks will also send off
flowers UM, these pretty little sprays like like kind of
(03:28):
like little fireworks UM that will develop these small oblong
seeds that are their pointy on both ends about the
size of like a narrow sesame seed something in that range. Um.
And all of these parts, the bulb, the stocks, the leaves,
the flowers, the seeds are all edible and are all
used in various cuisines. Um. The bulbs and stocks are
juicy and tender, sort of like celery um, and taste
(03:51):
of vegetable and bitter and a little bit sweet. Um.
You can use them raw um like in salads or
or roast them on their own or cook them into dishes.
The leaves taste a brighter and are really great garnish.
The seeds have more like a warm earthiness and are
used either whole or ground. Is a spice to flavor
(04:11):
both savory and sweet dishes. And uh, and yeah, all
have at least a little of that um kind of
bitter sweet annis twinge like like like licorice. And uh,
Lauren bought a little show and tell for me. Yeah, yeah,
I have a little jar of of fennel seeds from
my cupboard, um, which I chewed on some of while
(04:34):
I was writing this outline. Oh, there you go. Yeah,
I'm definitely gonna seek this out now that I know
what it is. Oh, I look forward to you experimenting
with it. Oh, fennel salad. Really, it's it's it's aces
and some of the recipes I found while I was
writing this outline or oh they looked so good. It
was a very hungry outline. Okay, I'm excited. I'm excited. Yeah, Okay,
(04:58):
I'll send you some legs. Okay. Um. There are at
least five varieties of fennel that have been bred for
for sweetness or bitterness or the size of the bulb
or whatever it is that people are looking for. It
does also grow wild um and can be super invasive.
Also apparently, swallowtail butterflies really like it. Oh yeah, swallow
(05:19):
tail butterflies. Uh huh um. Around the Mediterranean, fennel is
often used as a vegetable to accompany fish dishes UM
and as a spice in breads and cakes and candies.
The spice is often used in sausage, especially like Italian
style fresh sausage, like sweet Italian sausage. UM. It's a
primary flavor ingredient in UM. It shows up in ferments
like sweet pickles and saur kraut. It's part of the
(05:40):
flavoring in sambuca. UM. It goes really well tomato, and
can just give like an extra something something to to
a lot of sauces and roasts. You gotta have that
extra something something, you do. Um. Fennel seed also shows
up in most recipes for Chinese five spice, which is
not literally five ices um, but rather indicates a blend
(06:02):
of the five flavors. Five flavors. M. Wait, we should
do we should do a whole episode on that. It's
definitely worthwhile. Oh okay. And in Indian cuisines, um, the
seeds may be used a hole to season rice. They
show up in like spiced tea blends and in curries. Um.
(06:24):
They're sometimes chewed as a breath freshener, especially after a meal. Um.
And you may have seen in in Indian restaurants near
the cash register, like a little dish of candied fennel
seeds that you're meant to take a little scoop of
and and and chews. Yeah, just a nice little after
meal thing, okay. Um. Fennel is also a popular toothpaste
(06:44):
flavor outside of the United States. Well, I find strange
as a toothpaste but um, but oh, but you have
the mint thing. I know you should totally try fennel toothpasteing. Okay,
I mean, I I need a solution. I've been dealing
with this for years and I'm just too lazy to
(07:06):
seek out something else. So alright, then old toothpaste perhaps, Yeah, yeah,
we we have a tube in my house my roommate. Yeah,
from the Netherlands, I think. Yeah. All right, okay, Well
what about the nutrition? I mean, you know, as as
(07:28):
with anything, it depends on what you do with it.
But fennel, unto itself, is good for you. You know.
It's it's a vegetable. It's low in calories, high end flavor,
lots of fiber and vitamins and minerals, all that good stuff. UM.
Fennel has also been used medicinally forever pretty much UM,
and research does indicate the compounds and fennel maybe antibacterial, antifungal,
(07:50):
and anti inflammatory. It is especially often used to help
relieve stomach or gut pains, and research has shown that
it may help relax those souls if they're cramping. So
like if you're gassy or something like that, then um,
it can help you just just just chill out, just
chill out and relieve some of that pain. As always, UM,
(08:12):
human bodies are complicated. More research needs to be done
before incorporating a medicinal dose of anything into your diet.
Check with the doctor or other medical professional. Of the
saber motto, Um, we have a couple of numbers for you.
The US imports most of its commercial fennel seeds from Egypt.
(08:34):
Egypt is the top exporter of fennel in general, UM,
but India is the top producer and the top importer um.
Global production is over a million tons a year. Wow.
Alright Finnel, alright, uh, Finnel has got some interesting history
to go with it. It does. But before we get
into that, we are going to get into a quick
(08:56):
break for awards from our sponsor and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So uh Finnel, Fennel, Fennel, Finnel.
It's one of those words that every time I say it,
(09:16):
I'm like, this is correct. Fennel most likely originated in
Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, which is in southern Europe.
But a long time ago, a long time ago. I
had a hard time finding more info than that. I
feel like it probably exists, and maybe I was miss googling,
as you say, Lauren, but it was not in the
(09:38):
top like twenty search results, so I I couldn't find
anything more specific either. But just it's been around for
a minute. It's been around for a minute. Ancient Egypsuans
used fennel medicinally and culinarily. Ancient Romans often ate it raw,
and the Epicus included a recipe for eating it alongside
boiled melon. Huh. Yeah. The ancient Chinese used it for
(10:03):
snake bites um. In Greek mythology, finnel stock housed the
fire Prometheus smuggle to humans. What Yeah? And in four
hundred ninety b C. When f s of Athens ran
one fifty miles to Sparta over two days to drum
up soldiers for the upcoming battle of Marathon and Persia,
(10:26):
he carried a stock of fennel. And yes, this is
where the marathon the race comes from. In some stories
the battle was fought on a field of fennel, and
perhaps because of this fennel came to symbolize victory. Huh.
The word fennel does come from the Latin word from
(10:47):
the plant um, which I probably mispronounced earlier. It's now
used as that genus name um. And that word itself
came from the Latin word for hey. People think maybe
because both have kind of a strong, like like warm,
grassy kind of scent. So I can see that. Yeah.
British poet Robert Browning in the nineteenth century wrote about
(11:09):
marathon fight. I shall with our foremost wherever this finel
may grow, pippitys proclaimed. Little did he know the run
from Marathon to Athens would be his last as like
wine through Clay Joy in his blood, bursting his heart,
he died. I don't think that's how it was meant
to be read, but that is how I read it.
(11:32):
So I you know, Robert Browning isn't here to tell
you not to that's true. Although if I have a
poet haunting me later, I will have some inkling is
a poet haunting you. I love that idea immediately. I
I love the idea of it. I would not want
(11:54):
it happening to me. Poets art and I say this
as like a former poetry human um poets are modeling. Yes, uh,
they'd they'd be real good at hunting though. Yeah, I
mean I don't want it to happen, but I like
the idea, kind of silly like here, I am just
(12:17):
scare you through and through like you know, yeah, like
like in in Iambic. Yeah, exactly, pretty good, exactly all right. Um.
Throughout history, finel has been used to lose weight. It's
been used for fasting during lent, to induce administration and lactation,
and yep, as an aphrodisiac. Yeah, and some people have
(12:40):
used it for a long time for their breath and
also as a flavoring for gin. Yeah, okay, yeah, and uh,
a lot of those. A lot of those medicinal things
have also been used for um for livestock as well.
I know that it's been used to treat um cows
having lactation problems for a long time. Yeah, or old
pal Plenty of the Elder listed twenty two finnel remedies,
(13:04):
but not heaven from it for a toothache, No, he
claimed a man who packed a rotten tooth with finnel
jumped off a cliff. Definitely don't do that. Okay, check
you know. Correlation causation arguments could be made, but this
he very adamant that you shouldn't do it. Many other
(13:25):
famous ancient thinkers. I believed finnel stimulated blood flow, and honestly,
it's been used for all kinds of things. I feel
like you could just randomly think of a medical ailment
and finnel at some point was used for it. Yeah.
In ancient Syrene, which was a Greek colony in North
(13:48):
Africa which is where modern day Libya is, there was
a giant now extinct varietal of finnel named silphium, and
it made people so much money, Like fortunes. Yeah, it
was so important to the economy there. It appeared on coins,
sometimes alongside an image of a woman suggestively gesturing towards
(14:10):
her genitals. And that might be because it was popularly
viewed as a contraceptive uh and ancient equivalent to the
morning after pill. Some science postulates that it actually might
have worked to an extent. Another relative of fennel, as
a fetida, was used as a less effective replacement for
(14:34):
this giant varietal of fennel. The nickname for this plant
was devil's dungue. Devil's dongue. Yep, that's because the smell
was so bad lauren uh. In the early century, some
viewed this as a cure for everything because nothing, well
(14:55):
nothing would come near it because it smells so badly
in their minds. Include according to the US Pharmacopeia, the
nineteen eighteen flu Spanish flu would not come near it.
Some poor school children were made to wear satchels of
of this stuff around their next to keep away all
(15:16):
kinds of things, all kinds of bacteria, illnesses that must
have really smelled badly. Yeah, devil's dung what a name.
It's evocative, right, it is? It is during the seven
hundred CE, Charlemagne pushed fennel as an essential for every
imperial garden. Fennel seeds were one of the spices traded
(15:38):
along the Silk Road, which solidified its use in cuisines
from China, through India, the Middle East, to the Mediterranean
and up into Europe. Speaking of Europe, Europeans during the
Middle Ages might have hung fennel over their door rays
as a protection against witches and evil spirits, and at
some point um in In Italy, fennel became a symbol
(15:59):
of flattery and foppishness um, and the Italian word for
it finoccio i, I believe, is slang for gay yeah
our gays and homosexual yeah listeners right in if you
know yeah um. Colonial Americans might have hung finnel and
windows to air out in closed spaces in the spring.
(16:21):
Though Thomas Jefferson grew it and well known American literary
horticulturist Bernard Mamahon mentioned it in eighteen oh six, it
was pretty rare until the eighteen nineties, and even then
it was mostly found in cities. During the nineteenth century,
the bulbo stock of dwarf fennel became popular in some
places as a vegetable, and it was used in in
(16:44):
the same way salary was largely. Yeah, and and I
would say that it is one of those um vegetables
that became very popular in America in the seventies and
eighties as part of that greater focus on on home cooking.
But with with a with a slightly slightly refined that yeah,
(17:07):
I yeah, I would, even though I say this is
someone who literally didn't know what it is, I would
imagine that right now as there is well maybe not
right right now because we're in a pandemic, but in general,
as people are focused on perhaps more local ingredients and
(17:29):
experimenting with newer ingredients, I would think that fennel is
having a bit of a resurgence. I've seen I've seen
it on a lot of menus around town. Um yeah,
largely largely in a salad kind of capacity, where again,
it is delightful. I gotta try it just adds this
just really nice like light sweetness to two dishes. That's
(17:53):
that's a good crunch. It's really pleasant. I do love
a good crunch. That's what I'm my primary favorite things
about popcorn, which is one of my very favorite foods.
I like the crunch, the crunch. The crunch is key.
The crunch is key, and you know what, cereal crunchy.
I've got a crunch thing. That's okay, that's I mean,
(18:17):
most humans do. It's it's pleasurable, it's nice, Thank you, Loren.
But now I'm thinking, like, why, like, is there any
research into into why we like the crunch? Is it?
Is it? Like? Are we like like, oh, yes, we
crunch the skulls of our enemies between our teeth or
(18:37):
I you know, my mind went there first as well,
and I love that that's where both of our minds
went first. There is research on it, and I've read it,
but I cannot offer more than that. I can't remember
at all, but it exists. I feel like when we
were talking about like Derrito's or something like that, that's
something that I read about. Yeah, but you're engaging perhaps, Yeah,
(19:02):
you know, future episodes. There you go, there you go, Yes,
why crunchy, It'll be a whole thing. Well that is
perhaps obviously all that we have to say about Fennel
right now. Yes, but we do have listener mail for you.
We do, and we will get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(19:33):
thank you, and we're back with I gotta say it's
hard to do one for something. You're very ud I was.
I was thinking real hard. I was half expecting you
to do. Like listener mail, I tried to capture the
(20:00):
shape like it's kind of frauns up here in a
bulb down at the bottom. Yeah, yeah, no, I followed, Yeah, yeah,
Well you're you're good, all right, You're you. You're all
my wavelength and I always appreciate it. I have a
lot of practice. That's true. That's true. Uh. Savannah wrote
(20:22):
just listen to your mustard and Sarakraut episodes and knew
I had to write, I have been to the Mustard
Museum in Middleton. Yeah. I know, I don't have any
pictures to share, but believe me, it is amazing. The Cross,
Wisconsin has a huge October Fest every year canceled this year,
where you can sample many traditional mustards and sarakrauts. Another
(20:43):
listener wrote in about you visiting the one in Cincinnati
and if you ever go visit, you should come to
Octoberfest here. While you're in the Midwest, I would love
to show you my beautiful city and tell you all
about the best food places. A quick note about your
kool Aid episode. I believe it was Annie who wanted
a cool laid CONFULU crossover, and I have delivered. I
did not make this, but here is a link to
(21:05):
a site where you can buy cafol Aid shirts or
other merchandise. Also, it's excellent. Thank you. I was so
sad listening to your salt and Pepper shaker episode because
I have a very large collection of Kitchi salt and
pepper shakers. Unfortunately, they are all packed up because we're
going to move but didn't and I don't want to
unpack everything. My favorite set is a ceramic fish and pan,
(21:27):
the fish holding the salt and the pan holding the pepper.
The fish sits on the pan like it is being fried.
I wish I could send you pictures, because I know
you would find them delightful. Instead, I am sending a
picture of my St. Bernard, named Kingsley after Kingsley shackle
Bolt from Harry Potter. Of course, also very solid picture. Well,
(21:48):
we'll take both salt and pepper shakers and pet pictures, always, always, always, always, always,
Oh my gosh, yes, and all the kool aid man
A lot of you have been sending cafool aid. Also like,
we're not the only ones who think he's creepy. It
turns out he is a villain in multiple aspects, in
(22:08):
multiple mediums. So we were onto something, Lauren. Yeah, yeah,
well it's it's not our fault. I mean, this is
we were picking up something that's just clearly there right right.
We did not invent this. Um Amanda wrote, I'm a
(22:29):
little slow in writing to you, but at the end
of your recent ish Regune and Marjoram episode, a listener
writer I believe their name was, but I'm not quite
certain what you said mentioned all the consumables from the
Fallout video game universe and was super excited to hear
from a fellow Fallout fan. I thought you guys, of
all people, might appreciate our dedication to the Fallout series,
and I would like to hear about our recent ish. Oops.
(22:51):
This was apparently two years ago, ha ha. Endeavor to
celebrate the latest Fallout games launch, my husband and I
spent a month or so cry afting decorations to turn
our family room into the opening scene of the game,
follow out seventy six, the Reclamation Day party and preparing
a menu with everything I could think of how to
emulate in real life. The menu included roast death claw,
(23:15):
an entire prime rib the husband. The husband insisted this
was absolutely necessary. Instat mash, mashed potatoes, tato tomato, provincial carrots,
rainbow carrot sticks. Because it's always good to eat a vegetable. Youmyum,
deviled eggs, At deviled eggs, died a weed, a weird
green color, dandy boy, apple apples, apple chips, mole, rat chunks,
(23:36):
breaded pork bites, iguana bites, chicken cobabs, fancy lad snack cakes,
chocolate coated marshmallow cookie, dessert cakes, sugar bombs, poppy show checks,
cereal coated and chocolate then tossed in in icing sugar,
Nuka Cola Sunset sasaprilla, and Nuko Coola Quantum relabeled glass
bottle coke root beer and see picture and Koolaid sidebar
(23:58):
at the end regarding Nuko Cola Quantum. Okay, so put
a pin in that, y'all. If you're familiar with the
game series, these are very iconic food items throughout the series.
This also included setting up four TVs and four ps
fours so we could all take turns trying out the
game together. It's an mm O. We did, however, run
(24:19):
into some some internet issues trying to run for game
consoles off of our usually adequate but not stellar WiFi.
It was pretty amazing, but even though there were like
ten of us, because a whole prime rib is kind
of large, we ended up having to eat leftover roast
beef for like a week afterwards. But there are worse
things in life. Uh, kool Aid sidebar regarding your recent episode,
(24:44):
My favorite coool aid recipe is taking an envelope of
the unsweatened powder. My faith is the ice blue because
blue drinks are the best place your finger over the
bottom of a not super narrow funnel. Large piping bag
tip works well to pour the envelope of laid into
the funnel very carefully and quickly, emphasis on the quickly.
(25:04):
Position the funnel over and open two lead bottle of
sprite or seven up. Release your finger, dumping the powder
into the pop. You have about four seconds to get
the cap back onto the bottle before the whole thing
turns into an artificially colored volcano, which is just as
messy as you are imagining it to be. Definitely a
very exciting drink to make. Then, once everything is secure,
(25:28):
flip the bottle a few times to mix everything up
a little and refrigerate until party time. It's a very
fun party drink. I used to make batches of it
and bring it to all the parties. Alas, the unsweetened
kol Aid envelopes are no longer available in Canada, but
people do bring them up from the States and sell
them at an up charge, usually at fancy candy stores.
But they're much harder to find, and I'm no longer
(25:48):
twenty something, so it's been a while since I've made some.
We'll need to find some kool Aid packets and make
a batch again. Bringing it back to fallout, I did
use an ice blue kool Aid sprite mixed to create
the nucleola quantum. It was absolutely beautiful when poured into
the bottle, which I had rigged up to also glow
from underneath. Great times. That's amazing. Oh that's so fun.
(26:13):
Oh my gosh, you listeners are so creative. That's amazing.
That and that is totally like all of that is
stuff that like I can like see Annie like making
mental notes for like doing all of this in the future. Yes,
this is this is like if I had a party
(26:34):
planning business, it would specifically be this only nerdy type
things and tons of tons of plenty. But yeah, I
love this, and please listeners keep sending in your your
party ideas, your nerdy party ideas. Yeah, yes, all day,
(26:54):
every day. Yes, thanks to both of those listeners writing in.
If you would like to write to us, you can.
Our email is Hello at savor pod dot com, or
you can get in touch with us via social media.
We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, all three places.
Our name is at savor pod, and we do hope
to hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
(27:15):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super
producers Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about Fennel. And it's been a super educational one
for me because I literally did not know what it
was when you suggested it. Lauren. Oh wow, I would like,
like really like, oh my god. Okay, so ay, I
(00:28):
promised that you've had it you Yeah, I promised that
you have. You've probably had the vegetable part of it,
and you've definitely had the spice part of it. And
this explains your confusion when I when I suggested the
topic as a alternate to Annis, which um, which a
lovely listener wrote in requesting and I started looking into
(00:53):
it and there's so so much like animalogical historical confusion
between Annis and star Nice and like your star Annis,
how do you? I've always said star Nice, but it's
Annis anyway. Um. Yeah, there's the even beyond my pronunciation confusion,
like the words historically have been mixed up a lot.
(01:15):
And so I was like, not today, satan um, but
let's do Fennel um and he was like, okay, I
literally could not have told you anything about it. I
did not know what it was. I was like, it
could be a nerve, it could be a plant. I
don't know. I don't know, but when seeing pictures of it,
(01:36):
I was like, Okay, I've seen that before. Yeah, it's
it's in grocery stores. It's it's fairly common. And gosh,
I love it. Um, I love I love licorice flavored
things in general, and like like a thin sliced fennel root,
like fennel bulb, salad um with them with supreme citrus.
Oh gosh, one of my favorite things on the whole
(01:58):
planet that sound delicious. It's one of those things where
I'm like, I can't really I have no plate context
or what that would be, but it sounds like. Well, um,
I guess this brings us to our question, Yes, what
(02:23):
is it? Well? Uh, Fennel is a vegetable in the
carrot family um apace. I think, yeah. It's known for
its Anna's flavor. The botanical name is a phiniculum vulgarre,
and it grows a varyingly thick white bulb above ground
um about the size of an onion, and like an onion,
(02:45):
each layer of that bulb is a support structure for
a stalk um that that shoots up from that bulb
with a spray of these tiny feathery green leaves that
that looks like a like like dil kind of and
it is related to dill and closely enough that I
have seen this warning on gardening blogs. You you should
not plant dill and fennel next to each other because
(03:06):
they might cross pollinate and you could wind up with
uncertain flavors. You don't cross the streams unless there's a
marshmallow giant then you do. Then you do, but otherwise
otherwise don't. Yeah. Um, those stocks will also send off
flowers UM, these pretty little sprays like like kind of
(03:28):
like little fireworks UM that will develop these small oblong
seeds that are their pointy on both ends about the
size of like a narrow sesame seed something in that range. Um.
And all of these parts, the bulb, the stocks, the leaves,
the flowers, the seeds are all edible and are all
used in various cuisines. Um. The bulbs and stocks are
juicy and tender, sort of like celery um, and taste
(03:51):
of vegetable and bitter and a little bit sweet. Um.
You can use them raw um like in salads or
or roast them on their own or cook them into dishes.
The leaves taste a brighter and are really great garnish.
The seeds have more like a warm earthiness and are
used either whole or ground. Is a spice to flavor
(04:11):
both savory and sweet dishes. And uh, and yeah, all
have at least a little of that um kind of
bitter sweet annis twinge like like like licorice. And uh,
Lauren bought a little show and tell for me. Yeah, yeah,
I have a little jar of of fennel seeds from
my cupboard, um, which I chewed on some of while
(04:34):
I was writing this outline. Oh, there you go. Yeah,
I'm definitely gonna seek this out now that I know
what it is. Oh, I look forward to you experimenting
with it. Oh, fennel salad. Really, it's it's it's aces
and some of the recipes I found while I was
writing this outline or oh they looked so good. It
was a very hungry outline. Okay, I'm excited. I'm excited. Yeah, Okay,
(04:58):
I'll send you some legs. Okay. Um. There are at
least five varieties of fennel that have been bred for
for sweetness or bitterness or the size of the bulb
or whatever it is that people are looking for. It
does also grow wild um and can be super invasive.
Also apparently, swallowtail butterflies really like it. Oh yeah, swallow
(05:19):
tail butterflies. Uh huh um. Around the Mediterranean, fennel is
often used as a vegetable to accompany fish dishes UM
and as a spice in breads and cakes and candies.
The spice is often used in sausage, especially like Italian
style fresh sausage, like sweet Italian sausage. UM. It's a
primary flavor ingredient in UM. It shows up in ferments
like sweet pickles and saur kraut. It's part of the
(05:40):
flavoring in sambuca. UM. It goes really well tomato, and
can just give like an extra something something to to
a lot of sauces and roasts. You gotta have that
extra something something, you do. Um. Fennel seed also shows
up in most recipes for Chinese five spice, which is
not literally five ices um, but rather indicates a blend
(06:02):
of the five flavors. Five flavors. M. Wait, we should
do we should do a whole episode on that. It's
definitely worthwhile. Oh okay. And in Indian cuisines, um, the
seeds may be used a hole to season rice. They
show up in like spiced tea blends and in curries. Um.
(06:24):
They're sometimes chewed as a breath freshener, especially after a meal. Um.
And you may have seen in in Indian restaurants near
the cash register, like a little dish of candied fennel
seeds that you're meant to take a little scoop of
and and and chews. Yeah, just a nice little after
meal thing, okay. Um. Fennel is also a popular toothpaste
(06:44):
flavor outside of the United States. Well, I find strange
as a toothpaste but um, but oh, but you have
the mint thing. I know you should totally try fennel toothpasteing. Okay,
I mean, I I need a solution. I've been dealing
with this for years and I'm just too lazy to
(07:06):
seek out something else. So alright, then old toothpaste perhaps, Yeah, yeah,
we we have a tube in my house my roommate. Yeah,
from the Netherlands, I think. Yeah. All right, okay, Well
what about the nutrition? I mean, you know, as as
(07:28):
with anything, it depends on what you do with it.
But fennel, unto itself, is good for you. You know.
It's it's a vegetable. It's low in calories, high end flavor,
lots of fiber and vitamins and minerals, all that good stuff. UM.
Fennel has also been used medicinally forever pretty much UM,
and research does indicate the compounds and fennel maybe antibacterial, antifungal,
(07:50):
and anti inflammatory. It is especially often used to help
relieve stomach or gut pains, and research has shown that
it may help relax those souls if they're cramping. So
like if you're gassy or something like that, then um,
it can help you just just just chill out, just
chill out and relieve some of that pain. As always, UM,
(08:12):
human bodies are complicated. More research needs to be done
before incorporating a medicinal dose of anything into your diet.
Check with the doctor or other medical professional. Of the
saber motto, Um, we have a couple of numbers for you.
The US imports most of its commercial fennel seeds from Egypt.
(08:34):
Egypt is the top exporter of fennel in general, UM,
but India is the top producer and the top importer um.
Global production is over a million tons a year. Wow.
Alright Finnel, alright, uh, Finnel has got some interesting history
to go with it. It does. But before we get
into that, we are going to get into a quick
(08:56):
break for awards from our sponsor and we're back. Thank
you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So uh Finnel, Fennel, Fennel, Finnel.
It's one of those words that every time I say it,
(09:16):
I'm like, this is correct. Fennel most likely originated in
Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, which is in southern Europe.
But a long time ago, a long time ago. I
had a hard time finding more info than that. I
feel like it probably exists, and maybe I was miss googling,
as you say, Lauren, but it was not in the
(09:38):
top like twenty search results, so I I couldn't find
anything more specific either. But just it's been around for
a minute. It's been around for a minute. Ancient Egypsuans
used fennel medicinally and culinarily. Ancient Romans often ate it raw,
and the Epicus included a recipe for eating it alongside
boiled melon. Huh. Yeah. The ancient Chinese used it for
(10:03):
snake bites um. In Greek mythology, finnel stock housed the
fire Prometheus smuggle to humans. What Yeah? And in four
hundred ninety b C. When f s of Athens ran
one fifty miles to Sparta over two days to drum
up soldiers for the upcoming battle of Marathon and Persia,
(10:26):
he carried a stock of fennel. And yes, this is
where the marathon the race comes from. In some stories
the battle was fought on a field of fennel, and
perhaps because of this fennel came to symbolize victory. Huh.
The word fennel does come from the Latin word from
(10:47):
the plant um, which I probably mispronounced earlier. It's now
used as that genus name um. And that word itself
came from the Latin word for hey. People think maybe
because both have kind of a strong, like like warm,
grassy kind of scent. So I can see that. Yeah.
British poet Robert Browning in the nineteenth century wrote about
(11:09):
marathon fight. I shall with our foremost wherever this finel
may grow, pippitys proclaimed. Little did he know the run
from Marathon to Athens would be his last as like
wine through Clay Joy in his blood, bursting his heart,
he died. I don't think that's how it was meant
to be read, but that is how I read it.
(11:32):
So I you know, Robert Browning isn't here to tell
you not to that's true. Although if I have a
poet haunting me later, I will have some inkling is
a poet haunting you. I love that idea immediately. I
I love the idea of it. I would not want
(11:54):
it happening to me. Poets art and I say this
as like a former poetry human um poets are modeling. Yes, uh,
they'd they'd be real good at hunting though. Yeah, I
mean I don't want it to happen, but I like
the idea, kind of silly like here, I am just
(12:17):
scare you through and through like you know, yeah, like
like in in Iambic. Yeah, exactly, pretty good, exactly all right. Um.
Throughout history, finel has been used to lose weight. It's
been used for fasting during lent, to induce administration and lactation,
and yep, as an aphrodisiac. Yeah, and some people have
(12:40):
used it for a long time for their breath and
also as a flavoring for gin. Yeah, okay, yeah, and uh,
a lot of those. A lot of those medicinal things
have also been used for um for livestock as well.
I know that it's been used to treat um cows
having lactation problems for a long time. Yeah, or old
pal Plenty of the Elder listed twenty two finnel remedies,
(13:04):
but not heaven from it for a toothache, No, he
claimed a man who packed a rotten tooth with finnel
jumped off a cliff. Definitely don't do that. Okay, check
you know. Correlation causation arguments could be made, but this
he very adamant that you shouldn't do it. Many other
(13:25):
famous ancient thinkers. I believed finnel stimulated blood flow, and honestly,
it's been used for all kinds of things. I feel
like you could just randomly think of a medical ailment
and finnel at some point was used for it. Yeah.
In ancient Syrene, which was a Greek colony in North
(13:48):
Africa which is where modern day Libya is, there was
a giant now extinct varietal of finnel named silphium, and
it made people so much money, Like fortunes. Yeah, it
was so important to the economy there. It appeared on coins,
sometimes alongside an image of a woman suggestively gesturing towards
(14:10):
her genitals. And that might be because it was popularly
viewed as a contraceptive uh and ancient equivalent to the
morning after pill. Some science postulates that it actually might
have worked to an extent. Another relative of fennel, as
a fetida, was used as a less effective replacement for
(14:34):
this giant varietal of fennel. The nickname for this plant
was devil's dungue. Devil's dongue. Yep, that's because the smell
was so bad lauren uh. In the early century, some
viewed this as a cure for everything because nothing, well
(14:55):
nothing would come near it because it smells so badly
in their minds. Include according to the US Pharmacopeia, the
nineteen eighteen flu Spanish flu would not come near it.
Some poor school children were made to wear satchels of
of this stuff around their next to keep away all
(15:16):
kinds of things, all kinds of bacteria, illnesses that must
have really smelled badly. Yeah, devil's dung what a name.
It's evocative, right, it is? It is during the seven
hundred CE, Charlemagne pushed fennel as an essential for every
imperial garden. Fennel seeds were one of the spices traded
(15:38):
along the Silk Road, which solidified its use in cuisines
from China, through India, the Middle East, to the Mediterranean
and up into Europe. Speaking of Europe, Europeans during the
Middle Ages might have hung fennel over their door rays
as a protection against witches and evil spirits, and at
some point um in In Italy, fennel became a symbol
(15:59):
of flattery and foppishness um, and the Italian word for
it finoccio i, I believe, is slang for gay yeah
our gays and homosexual yeah listeners right in if you
know yeah um. Colonial Americans might have hung finnel and
windows to air out in closed spaces in the spring.
(16:21):
Though Thomas Jefferson grew it and well known American literary
horticulturist Bernard Mamahon mentioned it in eighteen oh six, it
was pretty rare until the eighteen nineties, and even then
it was mostly found in cities. During the nineteenth century,
the bulbo stock of dwarf fennel became popular in some
places as a vegetable, and it was used in in
(16:44):
the same way salary was largely. Yeah, and and I
would say that it is one of those um vegetables
that became very popular in America in the seventies and
eighties as part of that greater focus on on home cooking.
But with with a with a slightly slightly refined that yeah,
(17:07):
I yeah, I would, even though I say this is
someone who literally didn't know what it is, I would
imagine that right now as there is well maybe not
right right now because we're in a pandemic, but in general,
as people are focused on perhaps more local ingredients and
(17:29):
experimenting with newer ingredients, I would think that fennel is
having a bit of a resurgence. I've seen I've seen
it on a lot of menus around town. Um yeah,
largely largely in a salad kind of capacity, where again,
it is delightful. I gotta try it just adds this
just really nice like light sweetness to two dishes. That's
(17:53):
that's a good crunch. It's really pleasant. I do love
a good crunch. That's what I'm my primary favorite things
about popcorn, which is one of my very favorite foods.
I like the crunch, the crunch. The crunch is key.
The crunch is key, and you know what, cereal crunchy.
I've got a crunch thing. That's okay, that's I mean,
(18:17):
most humans do. It's it's pleasurable, it's nice, Thank you, Loren.
But now I'm thinking, like, why, like, is there any
research into into why we like the crunch? Is it?
Is it? Like? Are we like like, oh, yes, we
crunch the skulls of our enemies between our teeth or
(18:37):
I you know, my mind went there first as well,
and I love that that's where both of our minds
went first. There is research on it, and I've read it,
but I cannot offer more than that. I can't remember
at all, but it exists. I feel like when we
were talking about like Derrito's or something like that, that's
something that I read about. Yeah, but you're engaging perhaps, Yeah,
(19:02):
you know, future episodes. There you go, there you go, Yes,
why crunchy, It'll be a whole thing. Well that is
perhaps obviously all that we have to say about Fennel
right now. Yes, but we do have listener mail for you.
We do, and we will get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,
(19:33):
thank you, and we're back with I gotta say it's
hard to do one for something. You're very ud I was.
I was thinking real hard. I was half expecting you
to do. Like listener mail, I tried to capture the
(20:00):
shape like it's kind of frauns up here in a
bulb down at the bottom. Yeah, yeah, no, I followed, Yeah, yeah,
Well you're you're good, all right, You're you. You're all
my wavelength and I always appreciate it. I have a
lot of practice. That's true. That's true. Uh. Savannah wrote
(20:22):
just listen to your mustard and Sarakraut episodes and knew
I had to write, I have been to the Mustard
Museum in Middleton. Yeah. I know, I don't have any
pictures to share, but believe me, it is amazing. The Cross,
Wisconsin has a huge October Fest every year canceled this year,
where you can sample many traditional mustards and sarakrauts. Another
(20:43):
listener wrote in about you visiting the one in Cincinnati
and if you ever go visit, you should come to
Octoberfest here. While you're in the Midwest, I would love
to show you my beautiful city and tell you all
about the best food places. A quick note about your
kool Aid episode. I believe it was Annie who wanted
a cool laid CONFULU crossover, and I have delivered. I
did not make this, but here is a link to
(21:05):
a site where you can buy cafol Aid shirts or
other merchandise. Also, it's excellent. Thank you. I was so
sad listening to your salt and Pepper shaker episode because
I have a very large collection of Kitchi salt and
pepper shakers. Unfortunately, they are all packed up because we're
going to move but didn't and I don't want to
unpack everything. My favorite set is a ceramic fish and pan,
(21:27):
the fish holding the salt and the pan holding the pepper.
The fish sits on the pan like it is being fried.
I wish I could send you pictures, because I know
you would find them delightful. Instead, I am sending a
picture of my St. Bernard, named Kingsley after Kingsley shackle
Bolt from Harry Potter. Of course, also very solid picture. Well,
(21:48):
we'll take both salt and pepper shakers and pet pictures, always, always, always, always, always,
Oh my gosh, yes, and all the kool aid man
A lot of you have been sending cafool aid. Also like,
we're not the only ones who think he's creepy. It
turns out he is a villain in multiple aspects, in
(22:08):
multiple mediums. So we were onto something, Lauren. Yeah, yeah,
well it's it's not our fault. I mean, this is
we were picking up something that's just clearly there right right.
We did not invent this. Um Amanda wrote, I'm a
(22:29):
little slow in writing to you, but at the end
of your recent ish Regune and Marjoram episode, a listener
writer I believe their name was, but I'm not quite
certain what you said mentioned all the consumables from the
Fallout video game universe and was super excited to hear
from a fellow Fallout fan. I thought you guys, of
all people, might appreciate our dedication to the Fallout series,
and I would like to hear about our recent ish. Oops.
(22:51):
This was apparently two years ago, ha ha. Endeavor to
celebrate the latest Fallout games launch, my husband and I
spent a month or so cry afting decorations to turn
our family room into the opening scene of the game,
follow out seventy six, the Reclamation Day party and preparing
a menu with everything I could think of how to
emulate in real life. The menu included roast death claw,
(23:15):
an entire prime rib the husband. The husband insisted this
was absolutely necessary. Instat mash, mashed potatoes, tato tomato, provincial carrots,
rainbow carrot sticks. Because it's always good to eat a vegetable. Youmyum,
deviled eggs, At deviled eggs, died a weed, a weird
green color, dandy boy, apple apples, apple chips, mole, rat chunks,
(23:36):
breaded pork bites, iguana bites, chicken cobabs, fancy lad snack cakes,
chocolate coated marshmallow cookie, dessert cakes, sugar bombs, poppy show checks,
cereal coated and chocolate then tossed in in icing sugar,
Nuka Cola Sunset sasaprilla, and Nuko Coola Quantum relabeled glass
bottle coke root beer and see picture and Koolaid sidebar
(23:58):
at the end regarding Nuko Cola Quantum. Okay, so put
a pin in that, y'all. If you're familiar with the
game series, these are very iconic food items throughout the series.
This also included setting up four TVs and four ps
fours so we could all take turns trying out the
game together. It's an mm O. We did, however, run
(24:19):
into some some internet issues trying to run for game
consoles off of our usually adequate but not stellar WiFi.
It was pretty amazing, but even though there were like
ten of us, because a whole prime rib is kind
of large, we ended up having to eat leftover roast
beef for like a week afterwards. But there are worse
things in life. Uh, kool Aid sidebar regarding your recent episode,
(24:44):
My favorite coool aid recipe is taking an envelope of
the unsweatened powder. My faith is the ice blue because
blue drinks are the best place your finger over the
bottom of a not super narrow funnel. Large piping bag
tip works well to pour the envelope of laid into
the funnel very carefully and quickly, emphasis on the quickly.
(25:04):
Position the funnel over and open two lead bottle of
sprite or seven up. Release your finger, dumping the powder
into the pop. You have about four seconds to get
the cap back onto the bottle before the whole thing
turns into an artificially colored volcano, which is just as
messy as you are imagining it to be. Definitely a
very exciting drink to make. Then, once everything is secure,
(25:28):
flip the bottle a few times to mix everything up
a little and refrigerate until party time. It's a very
fun party drink. I used to make batches of it
and bring it to all the parties. Alas, the unsweetened
kol Aid envelopes are no longer available in Canada, but
people do bring them up from the States and sell
them at an up charge, usually at fancy candy stores.
But they're much harder to find, and I'm no longer
(25:48):
twenty something, so it's been a while since I've made some.
We'll need to find some kool Aid packets and make
a batch again. Bringing it back to fallout, I did
use an ice blue kool Aid sprite mixed to create
the nucleola quantum. It was absolutely beautiful when poured into
the bottle, which I had rigged up to also glow
from underneath. Great times. That's amazing. Oh that's so fun.
(26:13):
Oh my gosh, you listeners are so creative. That's amazing.
That and that is totally like all of that is
stuff that like I can like see Annie like making
mental notes for like doing all of this in the future. Yes,
this is this is like if I had a party
(26:34):
planning business, it would specifically be this only nerdy type
things and tons of tons of plenty. But yeah, I
love this, and please listeners keep sending in your your
party ideas, your nerdy party ideas. Yeah, yes, all day,
(26:54):
every day. Yes, thanks to both of those listeners writing in.
If you would like to write to us, you can.
Our email is Hello at savor pod dot com, or
you can get in touch with us via social media.
We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, all three places.
Our name is at savor pod, and we do hope
to hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
(27:15):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super
producers Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
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Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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