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Along Came (Fennel) Pollen: How to harvest your own
Inked individuals say once you get one tattoo, you immediately want another. Same goes for gardening, at least by my experience. One heirloom tomato plant is never enough. Why limit myself to a single strain of sage when I can have six? The rub is we live in a city, not on a farm, and urban gardening is a hobby fraught with grower's indecision. This season, I went back and forth on fennel. I'd never grown it before and my containers were maxed, but the young seedling (a bronze breed) just looked so sexy and regal sitting there outside at Terrain at Styer's (914 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills). Of course, I bought it, and four months later I'm really glad I did. Aside from territorial herbs like mint, bronze fennel was the hardiest and least demanding thing I grew all summer. In less than 6 inches of soil, this attractive workhorse shot up 2 feet in a month, its antennae-thin extremities exploding with umbrellas of tiny buttercup-colored buds. Fennel pollen. Stalk, seed, frond and flower, every part of the fennel plant is edible, but the pollen is my favorite part: sweet, woodsy, intriguingly musky. When dried, this fragrant dust adds unparalleled dimension to pork dishes, pizzas, risottos and more. (With a going rate of about $20 an ounce, it better.) I wondered: Could I dry these buds like other herbs? It seemed logical, so I tried, and now I've got a little jar of homegrown fennel pollen tucked in my spice cabinet for the fall and winter. If you've got fennel growing, you can have it too. Here's how. 1. Use scissors to snip the flowering branches of your fennel plant. 2. Gently rinse in cool water and blot dry with paper towel. 3. Transfer flowering branches to a sheet pan or plate depending on amount. Leave them alone until dry and slightly shriveled, two to three days. 4. Over a bowl, gently roll the flower clusters between your thumb and index fingers to separate the pollen from the branches. Transfer to a jar and store in a cool, dark place. rascal b. schuylkillian Posted 2010-09-21 16:58:15
Along Came (Fennel) Pollen: How to harvest your own
very cool post. I grew one fennel plant this year after my sister successfully grew a number of seedlings I gave to her the previous year. My plant is now nearing 5ft. tall (if it wasn't sagging over)! Other than admire its hardiness and using some fronds in a few dishes, I've let it grow unmolested. I am actually considering pickling part of the bulb and hardier lower sections as an experiment. Something to think about...
Pickling the bulb sounds brilliant. Let us know how it goes!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Yarden, J.J. Wolf. J.J. Wolf said: Along Came (Fennel) Pollen: How to harvest your own: Same goes for gardening, at least by my experience. One heirl... http://bit.ly/aG6XkV [...]
[...] vegan detention, but it made for such a delicious Friday lunch. Dusted the surface with a little of my homegrown fennel pollen. [...]
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