A vegetable for four seasons
In every season we have a good reason to bring fennel to the table: it protects our digestion from heavy winter meals, gives us lightness to better face spring, refreshes us in hot summer and finally, in autumn, strengthens us against the first ailments thanks to its multiple properties.
Fennel is present on the market stalls all year round and for this reason it is called the “price thermometer” of all vegetables, like a little apple for fruit. In fact, in every season there is a specific type of fennel, even if consumers are often not aware of it.
- The varieties of fennel
The different varieties, the Romanesco, the bulk of Sicily, the giant of Naples, differ from each other both for the place and for the period where they are produced, and for the size and crunchiness of the product, much less for the flavor, almost identical in all types of fennel. It is a vegetable, which together with a few others, is still grown in the open and not in the greenhouse, which is why it is more subject to climate and environmental changes.
There are male fennel and female fennel. The first one, with a rounder and more bellied appearance, has a more tender and crunchy flavor, so it is excellent for eating it raw in salads or for pinzimonio. The second one, the female fennel, has a thinner and longer aspect, hard and leathery, perfect for cooking, as for example in the fennel parmigiana!
So by sharpening the eye you can choose the right fennel for each dish you want to prepare.
Beyond the typology, however, one must be careful with the freshness of the product and therefore prefer fennel with shiny, un-stained and un-shriveled leaves.
- Fennel herbal teas
When the fennel is peeled, you must be careful not to throw the top and green part of the leaf, it is very useful for making excellent digestive herbal teas, especially in winter, in which to defend ourselves from the cold we eat heavier dishes.
Herbal teas can also be prepared using seeds. In this case, just boil a teaspoon of wild fennel seeds for 5 minutes in a cup of water; let stand 5 minutes, filter and drink during the day. This drink is useful for people who complain of gastrointestinal complaints, especially if associated with abdominal bloating, bloating and flatulence.
But not only: a herbal tea with fennel seeds contains a multitude of substances that prevent the onset of tumors. These substances, however, block the SULT, or Sulfotransferases, enzymes responsible for the toxic activation of estragole.
- Estragolo in fennel: what it is
Estragol is a substance considered carcinogenic and, since it contains it, fennel seeds have been impeached by the National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition. In this regard, Dr. Fabio Firenzuoli, Director of the Natural Medicine Center of the S. Giuseppe Hospital in Empoli, explains that the fennel herbal tea contains antioxidants and anticancer agents (anethole and flavonoids) a hundred times more than the estragole, which is also metabolized in infinitesimal percentages. It is therefore useless to feed alarmism: a natural remedy cannot be judged by evaluating only the individual elements contained in it but rather we must consider the plant as a wise mixture of compounds useful for our body.
- The beneficial properties of fennel
Are we used to weighing everything we eat, even vegetables? With fennel we can rest easy! It has a modest caloric value and is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals .
Among the vitamins present in this vegetable, vitamin C is the one most represented, followed by A and vitamin B6, in addition to folic acid and vitamin K. Among the minerals those present in greater quantities are calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium … so you can sleep even better at night without risking being woken up by cramps!
Also for those on a diet it is an excellent stomach filler before meals. But still … chewing fennel is an alternative way to clean your teeth and gums, especially if you don’t have a toothbrush and toothpaste on hand.
One last recommendation: do not let yourself be pampered as happened to many customers of the taverns who ate fennel and drank bad wine without realizing it … raw fennel also has the property of improving the taste of the wine you drink!
- The use of fennel in medicine and herbal medicine
There are two varieties of fennel of pharmaceutical interest: the sweet one (the salad fennel) and the bitter one. Herbal use is almost similar. The fruits (seeds) of fennel have always been used, not only in adults but also in pediatrics, in dyspeptic disorders, in meteorism and in spasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Thanks to the stimulating-aromatic properties, they show a positive influence on the gastrointestinal level, increase motility and gastric secretion, salivary and choleresis, improving the tone of these systems and thus promoting digestive processes. They also have an important spasmolytic action capable of reducing spasms at the gastrointestinal level.
At the level of the respiratory system they promote the cleansing of the respiratory mucous membranes as they activate the ciliary movement of the epithelium that lines the bronchial mucosa. The essential oil, present in the phytocomplex, also exhibits secretolytic (anethole) and bacteriostatic action. Fennel preparations, therefore, can be useful as expectorants in inflammation of the respiratory system.
Fennel is traditionally used to treat dysmenorrhea and to stimulate lactation and for this reason it is often used by new mothers to promote breastfeeding. These uses can be explained, at least in part, by the estrogenic action of fennel.
Research has also shown that fruit extracts have antioxidant properties in vitro, while the root is diuretic.
