FRESH FENNEL

Fennel is cleansing whilst also being moisturising and soothing. It is a detoxifier, and yet can help with things like milk production in lactating women, as well as alleviating aches and pains associated with colds.

In short, it’s a great little vegetable for managing a change in season as it both helps us to detox whilst also aiding us to build up and nurture.

It’s not a vegetable that is used over much here in the UK, I would imagine because of its half-celery half-liquorice kind of taste which doesn’t necessarily lend itself well to the classic UK palette.

However, when coupled with other vegetables, fennel acts almost as a sweetener, an aromatic ingredient which either sharpens the taste of it;s blander neighbours, or brings an extra something to the party. Here, I just blended fennel with butternut squash to see if my 7 month old would give it a go. She chomped up the lot, and her sister and I ate the rest on one of the evenings this week where Autumn seemed to rear its head on an otherwise hot and sunny day, and some kind of mash was in order.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, fennel stalk is a great ingredient as it pacifies Kapha, Pitta and Vata doshas, making it great for family cooking as well as for making meals at the change in seasons. It’s great for eye-sight, liver issues, stomach problems (e.g. IBS) and has been found to help with kidney problems too. It is a great nourisher of the various tissues, and has been used for centuries as a stimulater of the appetite and harmoniser of irregularities.

It’s also very cheap and adds that little sexy something something to an otherwise mundane meal. Get involved!