Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering, perennial herb in the Apiaceae family native to southern Europe that is used in its entirety; fennel seeds, stems, and leaves all have a wide array of uses in the kitchen.

Indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean, fennel is now naturalized in northern Europe, Australia, and North America, where it thrives in dry soil near the sea and along riverbanks. It is cultivated around the world, with most commercial fennel seed sold in the US coming from Egypt. All of the aerial portions of the plant are edible; its large leafstalk bases are eaten as a vegetable, while its seeds are often added to breads, Italian sausages, and sauerkraut.

Pliny, the Roman author of The Naturalis Historie, believed that serpents ate and rubbed against fennel after shedding their skins because it improved their eyesight. In the 1842 poem "The Goblet of Life," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow refers to the plant's ability to strengthen vision: "Above the lower plants it towers, | The Fennel with its yellow flowers; | And in an earlier age than ours | Was gifted with the wondrous powers | Lost vision to restore."

Conversely, in ancient China, fennel was considered a powerful snake bite remedy. The plant was often hung over doorways in Medieval times to ward off evil spirits, and was believed to be especially effective at the summer solstice.

On ancient Athenian Pheidippides' 150 mile journey to Sparta for the battle of Marathon, he carried along a fennel stalk to invigorate him with courage, as the plant was long thought to give warriors a newfound sense of bravery. The battle itself was reportedly waged on a field of fennel, and because of this, the fennel stalk was held up by the Athenians as a symbol of victory. Charlegmagne too held up the plant, declaring by royal decree that the botanical was essential to every garden because of its purported healing properties.

Prized as both a condiment and an appetite suppressant, fennel seeds were used by the Puritans to make it through Church-mandated fasting days. They brought the tradition with them to the US, where they snacked on seeds in church pews to stave off hunger.

These days, fennel is a common botanical in distillation, used in the preparation of absinthe and aquavit. While milder and more vegetal in flavor, fennel is commonly mistaken for anise in gin. The botanical is found in contemporary gins like AMASS, which have a strong herbal profile.

Found in: AMASS Dry Gin