Fennel

History

Foeniculum vulgare (fennel) has been cultivated for over 4,000 years, with evidence of its use found in ancient Egypt, China, and around the Mediterranean. The ancient Egyptians used fennel as a food, medicine, and ceremonial herb, while the Greek name "marathon" derives from the Battle of Marathon (490 BCE), fought on a field of fennel—the Greek word "marathos" means fennel, and the town took its name from the abundant wild fennel growing there. The Romans were passionate about fennel, using it to treat over 22 different ailments and believing it improved eyesight and gave courage—gladiators mixed fennel into their food before entering the arena. Pliny the Elder wrote that serpents ate fennel when shedding their skin to restore their sight, reinforcing the association with eye health. During the Middle Ages, fennel became one of the nine sacred herbs of the Anglo-Saxons, hung over doors on Midsummer's Eve to ward off evil spirits and protect against witchcraft. Medieval monks cultivated fennel in monastery gardens for medicinal use, and chewing fennel seeds became customary during long church services to suppress hunger and mask bad breath. Charlemagne's famous "Capitulare de villis" of 812 CE mandated fennel cultivation on all imperial farms. Italian immigrants brought fennel to North America, where it naturalized widely in California, becoming so abundant along roadsides that it's now considered invasive in some regions. The phrase "to sell fennel" in ancient Greece meant to deceive or flatter, possibly because fennel was used to bulk up inferior products. Today, fennel is essential to Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Chinese cuisines, prized for its sweet anise flavor in everything from Italian sausage to French bouillabaisse to Indian panch phoron spice blend. Wild fennel grows prolifically in California, where chefs forage the pollen as a premium ingredient.