SC - Fennel Per Gernot Katzer

[Nick Sasso]

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare
Mill.)

Synonyms
      pharm
               Fructus Foeniculi 
      Amharic
               Insilal 
      Assami
               Guamoori 
      Bengali
               Mouri, Sulpha 
      Burmese
               Samong-saba 
      Chinese
               Wooi heung, Hui xiang 
      Dutch
               Venkel 
      English
               Sweet cumin 
      Esperanto
               Fenkolo 
      Estonian
               Harilik apteegitill 
      Finnish
               Venkoli 
      French
               Fenouil, Aneth doux 
      Gaelic
               Lus an t'saiodh 
      German
               Fenchel 
      Gujrati
               Wariari 
      Hebrew
               Shumar 
      Hindi
               Saunf, Moti saunf 
      Hungarian
               Édeskömény 
      Icelandic
               Fennika 
      Indonesian
               Jinten manis, Adas 
      Italian
               Finocchio 
      Kannada
               Badisopu 
      Malay
               Jintan manis, Adas 
      Marathi
               Badisep, Shoap 
      Norwegian
               Fennikel 
      Oriya
               Pan mohuri 
      Polish
               Fenkul wloski, Koper wloski 
      Portuguese
               Funcho 
      Punjabi
               Saunf 
      Russian
               Sladkiy ukrop, Fenkhel, Aptechniy ukrop 
      Sanskrit
               Madhurika, Shatpushpa 
      Singhalese
               Maduru 
      Spanish
               Hinojo 
      Swahili
               Shamari 
      Swedish
               Fänkål 
      Tamil
               Sohikirai 
      Telugu
               Peddajilakaramu, Somp 
      Thai
               Yira 
      Turkish
               Rezene 
      Urdu
               Sonf 


Used plant part
     Fruits. Other than most of their relatives, they retain a green
colour after drying.
     As a rule of thumb, a bright green colour indicates a good quality.
     The leaves and stalks are occasionally eaten as a vegetable. 

Plant family
     Apiaceae (parsley family). 

Sensoric quality
     Sweet and aromatic, similar to anis. For other sweet spices, see
licorice. 

Main constituents
     The contents of essential varies strongly (0.6 to 6%); fruits in
the center of a
     umbel are generally greater, more green and stronger in fragrance.
Time of
     harvest and climate are also important.

     The essential oil of the most important fennel variety (var. dulce)
contains
     anethol (50 to 80%), limonene (5%), fenchone (5%), estragol
     (methyl-chavicol), safrol, alpha-pinene (0.5%), camphene,
beta-pinene,
     beta-myrcene and p-cymen. In contrast, the uncultivated form (var.
vulgare)
     contains often more essential oil, but since it is characterized by
the bitter
     fenchone (12 to 22%), it is of little value. 

Origin
     Mediterranean. 

Note
     In large parts of Asia, fennel and anis given the same name (see
below). 

Etymology
     The genus name foeniculum (Latin for "little hay") probably refers
to the aroma
     of fennel and is the source of the name of fennel in many
contemporary
     European languages. 

     In the Hindi tongue, anis and fennel are often synonymously caalled
saunf,
     although only fennel is a traditional spice of the region. To make
a clear
     distiction between the both, fennel may also be called moti saunf
"thick fennel",
     because its fruits are somewhat larger.

     The Indonesian name jintan manis "sweet cumin" (also applied to
anis) reflects
     the much greater importance of cumin, of which fennel is thought to
be a
     variety, in Indonesian cuisine. Analogous formations are French
aneth doux or
     Russian sladkiy ukrop "sweet dill". All these spices (anis, cumin,
dill and also
     caraway) belong to the same plant family (Apiaceae) and, in varying
degree,
     resemble each other in shape and fragrance. See also cicely.