Fennel

Fennel is a pale-green, bulbous vegetable with feathery fronds and firm, layered flesh. Its flavor is sweet and anise-like with a crisp snap; it eats well raw in thin slices, mellows and caramelizes when roasted or braised, and works as an aromatic base with onions and celery. It is commonly sold as whole bulbs with stalks and fronds or as trimmed bulbs.

Cultivated around the Mediterranean since antiquity, fennel became a staple in Italian and French cooking and spread through Europe and the Americas via trade and migration. Today it is widely grown in coastal climates, notably in Italy, France, and California.