Common fennel. Fennel fruit - fructus foeniculi. Fennel fruits: contraindications
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BITTER FENNEL FRUITS
Foeniculi amari fructus
FENNEL, BITTER
DEFINITION
Ripe and dried fruits Foeniculum vulgare Mill. sp. vulgare var. vulgare. Contain at least 40 ml/kg of essential oil in terms of anhydrous raw materials. The essential oil contains at least 60.0% anethole and at least 15.0% fenchone.
AUTHENTICITY (IDENTIFICATION)
A. External signs (#2.8.3). The fruit is a drupe, splitting into two semi-fruits (mericarp). The fruit is oblong, almost cylindrical, with a rounded base and tapering apex, with a large stylopodium. The length of the fruit is usually from 3 mm to 12 mm, width from 3 mm to 4 mm. Mericarps are usually free, glabrous, with five noticeable oblong ribs. On a cross-section, when magnified, large essential oil tubules are visible: four on the outside and two on the inside. Color ranges from greenish brown, brown or green.
B. Microscopy (#2.8.3). The crushed raw materials are examined (355). Color ranges from grayish brown to grayish yellow. Visible are: yellow fragments of wide secretory tubules, usually consisting of polygonal sectorial cells with yellowish-brown walls, and an associated layer of thin-walled transversely elongated cells with a width of 2 μm to 9 μm, arranged in a parquet-like manner; reticular parenchyma of the mesocarp; numerous strands of fibers from the ribs, often with narrow spiral vessels; numerous fragments of endosperm containing aleurone grains and small rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, as well as strands of fibers from carpophorus.
C. Thin layer chromatography (2.2.27).
Test solution. To 0.3 g of freshly crushed raw materials (1400) add 5.0 ml methylene chloride R and shake for 15 minutes. Filter and carefully evaporate the filtrate to dryness in a water bath at 60°C. The residue after evaporation is dissolved in 0.5 ml toluene R.
Reference solution. 50 µl anethole R and 10 µl fenchona R dissolve in 5.0 ml hexane R.
Plate: TLC plate with a layer of silica gel GF 254 P.
Mobile phase: hexane R - toluene R (20:80, r/v).
Sample volume applied: 10 µl in the form of strips 20 mm long and 3 mm wide.
Mobile phase front: at least 10 cm from the start line.
Drying: on air.
Manifestation A: Viewed under ultraviolet light at a wavelength of 254 nm.
Results A: the chromatograms show an absorption zone in the central part corresponding to anethole.
Manifestation B: the plate is sprayed sulfuric acid R and heated at a temperature of 140°C for 5-10 minutes. View in daylight.
Results B: in the chromatogram of the reference solution, a yellow zone (fenchone) is found in the lower third and a violet zone (anethole) in the central part. In the chromatogram of the test solution, zones are found that correspond in location and color to the zones of fenchone and anethole in the chromatogram of the reference solution; in the upper third there is a zone of reddish-brown color (terpenes).
TESTS (NUMERICAL INDICATORS)
Estragole. Not more than 5.0% in the essential oil obtained in the “Quantitative Determination” section. The determination is carried out as indicated in the section “Quantitative determination. Determination of anethole and fenchone content” using reference solution (b). The estragole content is calculated using the normalization method.
Acceptable impurities (#2.8.2). Non-raw material parts of the plant: stalks - no more than 1.5%. Amount of other permissible impurities: no more than 1.5%.
Water (2.2.13) . No more than 80 ml/kg. The determination is carried out from 20.0 g of crushed raw materials (710).
Total ash (2.4.16). No more than 10.0%.
QUANTITATION.
Determination of essential oil (2.8.12, method A). 5.0 g of freshly ground raw material (1400) is placed in a round-bottomed flask with a capacity of 500 ml, add 200 ml water P as a distillation liquid. Place 0.50 ml in a graduated tube xylene R and distilled at a speed of 2-3 ml/min for 2 hours.
Determination of anethole and fenchone content. Gas chromatography (2.2.28).
Test solution. A mixture of essential oil and xylene R, obtained during the determination of essential oil, is diluted xylene R to a volume of 5.0 ml, rinsing the device for determining essential oils with the same solvent.
Reference solution(s). 5 mg fenchona R and 5 mg anethole R dissolve in 0.5 ml xylene R.
Reference solution (b). 5 mg estragole R dissolve in 0.5 ml xylene R.
Chromatography conditions:
- column capillary length from 30 m to 60 m and internal diameter 0.3 mm, covered with a layer macrogol 20,000 R;
- detector: flame ionization;
- carrier gas: nitrogen for chromatography P;
- carrier gas velocity: 0.40 ml/min;
- flow division: 1:200;
- volume of injected sample: 1 µl;
- temperature:
Peak order: fenchone, anethole. The content of anethole and fenchone is calculated using the normalization method.
STORAGE
In a place protected from moisture and light at a temperature of 15°C to 25°C.
Genus Fennel (Foeniculum) belongs to the Celery family (Apiaceae) and includes, according to various sources, from 2 to 10 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants. The homeland of fennel is the Mediterranean. Here it grows wild, and is also found in Central Asia, in a number of regions of Western Asia from the Azores to Iran, in Crimea and Transcaucasia. It usually grows on dry rocky slopes, in ditches, grassy places, near roads and housing, and in weedy places.
As a medicinal and spicy plant, fennel was well known in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. In the history of medicine it is mentioned in the works of Pliny and Avicenna.
The most common types of fennel in cultivation are: Common fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) And Italian fennel(Foeniculum italica), better known as Vegetable Fennel or Tender Fennel. But the second type of fennel is most often grown in Italy.
Fennel is a perennial, but as a vegetable crop it is most often grown as an annual or biennial plant.
Stem in fennel, it is erect, finely grooved or finely ribbed, round, with a bluish coating, highly branched at the top, from 90 cm to 2 meters in height. Root has a rod-like, thick, fusiform, wrinkled appearance. Leaves alternate, ovoid-triangular, bluish-green, lacy, three- or four-pinnately dissected with long thread-like lobes, externally similar to dill leaves. The lower leaves are large, long-petiolate, the middle and upper leaves are sessile, on narrowly elongated membranous sheaths along the edges. The bases of the leaves have a grooved petiole. At the base of the stem of Italian fennel, a head is formed 10-17 cm high, 5-10 cm wide, weighing 50-100 g or more, consisting of numerous swollen, juicy petioles. Inflorescence- a complex flat umbrella without a wrapper, reaches a diameter of 20 cm, consists of small yellow flowers. Fetus- an oblong greenish-brown two-seed, ovoid-oblong in shape, 6-14 mm long, 3-4 mm thick, the semi-fruits of which have 5 well-defined blunt ribs. Weight of 1000 seeds - 5-6 g.
Fennel is one of the oldest medicinal plants and one of the oldest spices in the world. Without any exaggeration, this plant can be called a modest sorcerer. Outwardly, it is often discreet, it resembles garden dill, but that is where their similarities end. But it was the common fennel that for a long time many peoples revered as a sacred herb, it was one of the attributes of the ancient Greek god of wine Dionysus, it was highly valued in Ancient China and Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and India, it was then grown with such reverence in monasteries monks in the gardens of Europe.
In its ancient Russian name - "Voloshsky dill", there is a mention of the Italian origin of this plant, from the Old Russian word "Volokhi" - the general name of the Romanesque peoples. In our country, it began to be bred since the 17th century as a medicinal plant.
Fennel. Beneficial features
The entire above-ground part of this plant has beneficial properties. Its leaves contain ascorbic acid, rutin in large quantities, carotene, vitamins B, E, K, dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron. The fruits contain 2-5% essential oil, 9-12% fatty oil, as well as proteins, sugar and other substances.
Fennel in medicine
In old medical treatises, from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance inclusive, fennel acted as a universal remedy that could resist any poison, as well as have a healing effect on many diseases.
Today this plant is used as an anti-inflammatory, healing, antioxidant, bactericidal, anthelmintic, carminative, diuretic, expectorant, analgesic, and sedative. It is used to enhance lactation, to improve appetite and restore normal digestion, and even to combat cellulite and wrinkles.
They treat bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, angina pectoris, gout, gastritis, hepatitis, neurasthenia and runny nose. The magical medicinal tincture of fennel has been the first medicine for little ones for centuries, because it has a gentle antispasmodic effect and is absolutely harmless to children.
It is also often called a "weight loss plant" due to its ability to stimulate metabolism.
Fennel in cooking
Fennel is a spicy-flavoring plant with a peculiar bittersweet aroma and a sweetish, slightly minty taste, used in the cooking of many peoples of the world, and especially widely in Indian, French and Italian cuisine. It can be used in a wide variety of dishes: vegetable and fish soups, salads, side dishes, sauces and mayonnaise, in baked goods, puddings, jam, and also to flavor tea and other drinks. It is used in the manufacture of pickles, aromatic vinegar, for preparing meat and fish dishes, as well as seafood dishes.
Fennel fruits are part of the world-famous Chinese Five Spice mixture and the French Herbes de Provence mixture.
Fennel. Preparation and storage
It is better to use the leaves of this plant fresh, since when dried they practically lose their properties. Fennel is prepared by dry salting, like dill or parsley. To harvest seeds, cut off its upper parts when the fruits in the umbrellas turn brown, then tie them in bunches and dry them; the temperature during drying should not exceed 35°C. The dried bunches are threshed, dried and the seeds are stored in sealed packaging in a glass container in a dark place.
Fennel roots are dug up in late autumn, dried and stored like other root vegetables.
If in America and Australia fennel is not very favored and is considered a weed, due to the fact that it sows on its own and quickly takes over the territory; then in European countries, in order to fill the house with its honey-anise aroma, it is even bred as a houseplant.
The largest suppliers of this plant to the world market today are Italy, France, Iran, India and Russia.
Some varieties of this plant, for example, bronze fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare Bronze) are very decorative. This fennel can effectively set off many flower arrangements with its “haze”, become an original decoration for an area in a single planting, or look great in a border.
Sem. Celery - Apiaceae
Other names: pharmaceutical dill, Voloshsky dill
Botanical characteristics. It is a perennial and, in cultivation, a biennial herbaceous plant. The stem is erect, branched upward, 2-1 m high. The leaves are alternate, multipinnate, with long filiform lobes. The flowers are yellow, collected in an inflorescence of a complex umbrella. The fruit is a large double-carp (double-carp), consisting of two semi-fruits, oblong in shape.
Spreading. It grows wild in the Mediterranean, as well as in the Crimea, Central Asia and the Caucasus. It has long been cultivated in the Krasnodar region (Russia), Moldova and Ukraine.
Habitat. Mainly on fertile soils, heat- and light-loving plant. Drought-resistant.
Preparation. The fruits ripen unevenly, so harvesting is done when 50% of the umbrellas are ripe in two stages, which reduces crop losses. First, previously ripened grass umbrellas are cut off with a sickle.
Drying. Drying is carried out in sheaves under canopies, then the raw materials are threshed, cleaned of broken parts, sorted and winnowed.
External signs. According to the Global Fund XI, the fruits should be greenish-brown, glabrous, oblong, almost cylindrical, bifid caryopsis (caryopsis), easily split into 2 semi-fruits (mericarp) from 4 to 10 mm long, about 3 mm wide. One side of the semi-fruit is flat, the other is convex, with 5 prominent ribs. There is a calyx and a suprapistal disc. The smell is characteristic, aromatic, strong. The taste is sweetish-spicy. Possible admixture: fruits of dill - Anethum graveolens L., which is distinguished by its oval shape and highly developed wing-shaped lateral ribs. The smell is peculiar, different from the smell of fennel. Has independent application. Loss in mass after drying is allowed no more than 14%. The authenticity of the fruit is determined by external signs and microscopically. Under a microscope, large essential oil tubules, 6 in number, are visible, located between clearly visible ribs in which vascular bundles are located.
Microscopic signs. Cross section of the fetus. The ribs contain large vascular bundles, which are surrounded by cells with a mesh thickening. Essential oil tubules 6; 2 of them are located on the inner, flat side and 4 on the outer, convex side; the latter lie in the hollows between the ribs. Sometimes there are small additional tubules lying next to the main ones. The inside of the tubules is lined with a brown layer of excretory cells. The endosperm consists of polygonal cells with thickened walls, filled with aleurone, fatty oil and small drusen of calcium oxalate.
Fennel fruit preparation.
A - diagram of a cross section of the fruit (x56); B - part of the cross section (x280). 1 - epidermis (exocarp); 2 - mesocarp; 3 - essential oils; 4 - endocarp; 5 - seed endosperm; 6 - cotyledons of the embryo; 7 - conductive bundles; 8 - mesocarp cells with reticular thickening.
Possible impurities. The fruits of dill - Anethum graveolens- oval in shape, flattened on the back, yellowish-gray in color; the lateral ribs are wing-shaped, straw-yellow in color. The smell is spicy, the taste is unsweetened.
Chemical composition. Essential oil (at least 3%). Its component is anethole (50-60%). It also contains fatty oil and protein substances.
Storage. According to the rules for storing essential oil raw materials in bags and boxes. Shelf life: 3 years.
Pharmacological properties. It is used for flatulence, as an expectorant, and sometimes to improve the taste in mixtures. The “carminative” effect is due mainly to the antispasmodic effect on the muscle layer of the intestine.
Medicines. Fennel fruits, infusion (tea), infusion, dill water, complex licorice root powder, fennel (dill) oil.
Storage. Fennel fruits and fennel oil - for flatulence and as an expectorant. In terms of chemical composition and pharmacological properties, the fruits of garden dill are very close to fennel; they also have choleretic, antispasmodic and diuretic effects.
Application. Fennel oil (Oleum Foeniculi). Essential oil obtained by distilling crushed fennel fruits. Contains up to 60% anethole. Transparent, colorless or yellowish, easily mobile liquid with a strong odor reminiscent of anise. The taste is at first bitterish-camphorous, then sweetish. Prescribed for flatulence and as an expectorant, 5-10 drops per dose; also used to improve the taste of mixtures.
Common fennel perennial herbaceous plant of the Umbelliferae family, 100 - 200 cm high.
In appearance, fennel is similar to dill, but has a strong sweetish-spicy taste and an aniseed smell. The root is taproot, fleshy, yellowish-white.
The stem is straight, hollow, slightly furrowed, with a bluish coating, branching in the upper part.
The leaves are alternately petiolate, repeatedly dissected into linear segments.
The flowers are small, with yellow petals, collected in an umbrella, which in turn forms up to 10 complex umbrella inflorescences.
The fruit is an oblong brownish-gray two-seeded seed, splitting into two half-fruits, the smell is aromatic, strong, reminiscent of anise, the taste is sweetish-spicy.
Blooms in July - August. Ripens in September.
Spreading
Common fennel wildly distributed in the Caucasus, Crimea, southern regions of Central Asia and Transcaucasia. It grows on dry rocky slopes, in ditches, grassy places, along roads and housing, in the mountains it is found up to an altitude of 2000 m above sea level. It is cultivated as an essential oil crop and medicinal plant in Ukraine, Belarus, and Kuban. Currently grown in many Western European countries, it is especially common in Italy. It has been known since ancient times as a spicy, medicinal and vegetable plant.
Growing
Vegetable fennel, or dill, is a perennial plant, but in the Stavropol region it is grown as an annual or biennial crop.
Agricultural technology
The plant is heat-loving, demanding on soil fertility and moisture. It must be placed on carefully prepared soil, well seasoned with organic fertilizers. Fennel responds well to fertilizing and watering. Demanding on lighting. When grown on a personal plot, the plant is placed in open, sunny places. It grows well in fertile loamy soils.
Fennel is placed after vegetable crops for which organic fertilizers have been applied, therefore, when digging the soil in autumn, 8-10 g of superphosphate and potassium salt are added per 1 m2. In March, as soon as the soil is free of snow and slightly dry, it is harrowed to break up clods and retain moisture. Before sowing, add 6-8 g of urea or any nutrient mixture per 1 m2, loosen the soil while adding fertilizer and cut shallow grooves.
Seeds for early sowing should be germinated. They are sown in the first ten days of April. Row spacing - 45 cm, planting depth - 2-3 cm, seed consumption - 1 g/m2. To constantly obtain fresh greens, it is advisable to repeat the sowing after 20-25 days, and sow the fennel again at the end of May.
The first shoots appear on the 20th day. The optimal growth temperature is 6...10°C.
When thinning, plants are left at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. Watering is necessary only during the dry period, otherwise premature stemming and flowering will begin. To increase the yield of green mass, plants are fed at the rate of 4 g/m2 of the nutrient mixture.
The collection of young leaves and shoots is carried out as they form regularly, throughout the summer. The thickened stem is cut off when it reaches a diameter of 8-10 cm. Unused greens in the summer are dried. Before frost, the plants are fed, removed by the roots from the ground and buried in a greenhouse or basement.
If plants are left for the second year of life, their stems are cut at a height of 5-7 cm from the soil surface and covered with a thin layer of straw manure or spruce branches. Fennel is cold-resistant, but without snow it can freeze, so it is better to cover it. In early spring, the shelter is removed. Plants that are insulated for the winter grow better in the spring. On poor soils, plants are fed with manure. The first feeding is carried out when two or three true leaves appear. During dry periods, fennel requires watering.
The leaves on the seed plants are not removed. At the beginning of stemming, they are fed with urea and potassium salt at 10 g/m2, and in the budding phase with superphosphate (8 g/m2).
Fennel fruits do not ripen at the same time. They begin to harvest when they turn brownish-green in the central umbrella. At this time, at a height of 25-30 cm from the surface, the entire plant is cut off and placed in a ventilated room for drying and ripening, then threshed. You can harvest the fruits selectively, as the umbrellas of different tiers ripen. Store seeds in a closed container.
Reproduction
Propagated by seeds. In the North Caucasus, in years with long warm autumns, fennel blooms, but does not have time to form viable seeds when grown without seedlings. To obtain seeds in an annual crop, it is necessary to first grow 40-45-day-old seedlings and plant them in open ground in mid-April. With seedless culture, seeds are obtained in the second year of life. The flowers are small, yellow, collected in an umbrella. Seeds remain viable for 2-3 years.
Varieties
There are no zoned varieties in our country. Varieties of foreign selection are used, such as Balonsky, Sicilian, Florentine, etc.
Chemical composition
Active ingredients
The fruits contain essential oil, which includes anethole, fenchone, pinene, camphene, anisaldehyde, anisic acid, methyl chavicol and other terpenes, as well as fatty oil containing unsaturated fatty acids (peroselicic, oleic, palmitic, etc.).
The aerial parts contain essential oil (0.27-5%), coumarins (up to 1.28%), flavonoids (0.9%); in the stems - organic acids, essential oil (0.2-1.1%), flavonoids, anthocyanins. The leaves and flowers contain flavonoids, organic and phenolcarboxylic acids, vitamins C (up to 130 mg%), B 1, K, carotene (10 mg%), essential oil (up to 0.9%) and other substances.
Common fennel Uses
Used in the food, confectionery and perfume industries, and in everyday life as a flavoring agent. They are used in alcoholic beverage and soap production.
Fruit waste is used as animal feed.
Food use
The fruits and essential oil are a good culinary spice for soups, vegetable and meat dishes.
The peoples of the Mediterranean consume it as a vegetable. In the Caucasus, the leaves are used as a spice in the preparation of national dishes.
Succulent leaves and young umbrellas are preserved. Stems and young umbrellas are used in baking and pickling vegetables. The stems are used for canning cucumbers.
Medicinal use
Collection and processing of medicinal raw materials
The medicinal raw materials are fennel fruits and oil. The fruits do not ripen at the same time, so they are collected in several stages: first, the central umbrellas are in the yellowing stage, then the entire plant with the side umbrellas is cut off. The raw materials are tied in bunches and hung in the attic. After drying, it is threshed and cleared of debris. Store in tightly closed glass jars for 2 years.
Common fennel Use in official and folk medicine
Fennel preparations are prescribed to improve appetite and digestion, and eliminate stomach cramps. The fruits are included in the domestic pharmacopoeia and the pharmacopoeias of a number of countries. They are part of Traskova's anti-asthmatic medicine. Essential oil and fennel oil are prescribed for flatulence, as an expectorant, and to correct the taste of medications.
The fruits are part of carminative tea; their infusion is used for mild forms of chronic coronary insufficiency, hypertension (initial stage), as expectorant for bronchitis, as a diuretic and lactogenic agent. Essential oil is used in the treatment of skin diseases and mycoses. In Eastern countries it is used as an antipyretic.
In folk medicine, fruits are used in the same way as in scientific medicine, except that diuretic remedy for bronchial asthma, neurasthenia, spastic colitis, rarely for kidney and gallstone diseases. The plant is part of a soothing, choleretic, and chest preparation. In medieval Armenian medicine it was used in the treatment of cataracts. Shows estrogenic activity.
Common fennel- a perennial herbaceous plant of the Umbelliferae family. The root is thick, fleshy, spindle-shaped. The stem is erect, finely grooved, round, with a bluish coating, highly branched at the top, up to 2 meters high. The leaves are bluish, dissected into long narrow, almost thread-like lobules, turning at the base into a grooved petiole. Small, yellow flowers form an inflorescence - a complex umbrella with a diameter of up to 20 cm. The fruit is an oblong greenish-brown two-seed, 6-14 mm long, 3-4 mm thick with five ribs. Externally, fennel is very similar to dill (which is why it is often called pharmaceutical dill), but its smell and taste are not dill at all, but rather anise-like. It blooms in June-August, the fruits ripen in July-September. Pollinated by insects. A good honey plant.
In cultivation, fennel is a one-biennial plant. Loves warmth and light, undemanding to soils. Propagated by seeds, less often by dividing the bush. The row spacing is 45 cm, the distance between plants is 12-15 cm. Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 6-8 degrees Celsius. Shoots appear in 12-14 days. Tolerates frosts down to -8 degrees Celsius. The fruits fall off easily. Fennel seeds are harvested when the fruits on the central umbrella are dry and those on the second-order umbrellas are not yet ripe.
It is believed that the birthplace of fennel is Italy. In fact, both in Ancient Rome and in medieval Italian cities, fennel was well known and was used not only as an aromatic additive to food, but also primarily as a medicine (a remedy for lung diseases, urolithiasis, and also as a carminative ). Its antibacterial properties were also known, due to the high content of essential oils in all parts of the plant.
Nowadays, fennel is grown in all parts of the world except the Arctic and Antarctica. Wild fennel can be found in the Crimea and the Caucasus.
There are two types of cultivated fennel: common fennel (pharmacy or Voloshsky dill) and Italian - vegetable. Vegetable fennel has a fleshier stem.
Fennel contains a large amount of vitamin C - 50-90 mg%, carotene - 6-10 mg%, vitamins B, E, PP. Fennel fruits are used in medicine in many countries, including the USSR. The leaves are used for medicinal purposes in France, the roots in Portugal. The seeds are a good cough remedy. Many people know “dill water”, which is given to children when there is an accumulation of gases. But not everyone knows that this water has nothing in common with dill and is prepared from fennel. The fact is that fennel is popularly called pharmaceutical dill for its similarity to a garden plant and high medicinal properties.
In Indian medicine, the fruits are used as a stimulant and the roots as a laxative. In the USA, fennel is used for eye, intestinal, kidney diseases, and influenza.
In scientific medicine, fennel preparations are prescribed to improve appetite and digestion, and eliminate stomach cramps. From the seeds, pharmacies used to prepare “dill water” for infants and small children, used for bloating. Essential oil and fennel oil are prescribed for flatulence as an expectorant, antipyretic, antifungal and corrective (improving the taste of medicines). It is included in the complex drug “solutan”, used for bronchitis and bronchial asthma.
In folk medicine, fennel seeds, herbs and roots are used. Tea is prepared from fresh or dried leaves and flowers, and aqueous extracts are made from roots and ripe fruits. Fennel is prescribed as a carminative for flatulence, and as an analgesic for cramping pain in the intestines. The seeds are used to treat chronic cholecystitis, cholelithiasis and kidney stones. Fennel greens are recommended as a lactogenic agent. Green herb gruel is used to relieve freckles, bruises and cyanosis.
used in perfumery and cosmetics production and the food industry for flavoring sausages and confectionery products.
Essential oil is a colorless or slightly yellowish liquid with a characteristic odor, tastes bitter at first, then sweet. The oil contains: anethole - 50-60%, anisaldehyde, anisic acid, methyl chavicol, fenchone, pinene, camphen, phellandrene. Fennel fruits contain 12-18% fatty oil, which is used as a substitute for cocoa butter. They are included in spicy curry mixtures, in the European fish mixture. They are used to flavor tea, when baking certain types of bread, and in the distillery industry.
Fennel leaves and seeds have a sweet-spicy taste and a pleasant smell, combining the aroma of dill and anise. Fennel is used as a spice in the national cuisines of Romania, Hungary, France, Spain, Italy, China, and India. Fresh leaves are put in salads (sweet and sweet and sour fruit), they are seasoned with pureed vegetable soups, meat and fish dishes. The stems of the plant are used for pickling cucumbers. The roots are also used for food: they are boiled and then grated.
Fennel seeds are used to flavor fish dishes and sauces, sweet pickles, and marinades. In some countries they are added when sauerkraut, pickling cucumbers and tomatoes. In our country, fennel is consumed mainly in Turkmen and Russian national cuisines in fish dishes.
When making aromatic “bouquets” for flavoring foods, fennel along with other spices is placed in a gauze bag, which is dipped in boiling water and then removed. The norm for adding seeds to marinades, pickles, sauces is 1-2 g per 1 liter of water. Meat and fish dishes are sprinkled with spices before hot processing at the rate of 2-4 r/kg.
Fennel repels fleas; this property of the plant has been used since ancient times to protect pets from annoying insects. Finely chopped fresh fennel leaves are rubbed into the pets' fur and placed around and under the bedding.