Useful properties of fennel, application, composition, photo. How to grow fennel from seeds: tips for a beginner

These plants are often confused because their leaves have almost the same shape. And in the pharmacy they sell fennel seeds under the name dill. People called it Voloshsky dill. Meanwhile this different plants, although they are close relatives and are even capable of mixing with each other. Let's look at them separately, and then figure out how they differ.

Dill

Everyone knows what dill looks like. Even if you have never lived in a village and do not have your own garden, such a plant can be found on store shelves even in winter.

Botanical description

This is a fairly tall annual herbaceous plant height from 40 to 150 cm. The root is thin, taproot. The stem is usually single, although there are bush varieties in which up to a dozen stems emerge from one root. At the base of the stem there is a basal rosette of long, pinnately dissected leaves. The leaves are located along the entire height of the stem, and the higher, the smaller they are.

The very top of the stem is decorated with an inflorescence in the shape of a double umbrella. First, from 20 to 50 rays extend from the stem, which end in a smaller copy of the first umbrella. The flowers are small, yellow color. Blooms in June – July. In August, the seeds ripen in the form of flat, elliptical achenes 3-5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide.

Chemical composition and nutritional value of dill

Dill leaves contain 2.5% protein, 0.5% fat and 6.3% carbohydrates. Their calorie content is low - 40 kcal/100 g. Fiber content is 2.8%, which is 14% of the daily requirement (per 100 g of dill leaves).

They are also rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C (100 mg or 111% of the daily requirement per 100 g) and carotene (90% of the daily requirement per 100 g). They contain relatively little folic acid - 6.8% of the daily value. Vitamin E (11.3% of the requirement), vitamin B6 (7.5% of the norm), PP (7%) and B2 (5.6%) are also present.

From minerals we note calcium (22% of the norm in 100 g), magnesium (17.5%), potassium (13.4%), phosphorus (11.6%) and iron (8.9%), and among microelements - manganese (63 .2%), copper (14.6%) and zinc (7.6%). The content of potassium, calcium and phosphorus in the seeds is 3-4 times higher than in the leaves.

Dill in cooking

Fresh dill leaves are almost the first to appear on our spring table, back in April, when the body is in dire need of vitamins. They are added to salads, soups, sauces and side dishes, and they are part of many seasonings. Mashed potatoes with dill are much richer in flavor. And lightly salted cucumbers without it are generally nonsense. Dill inflorescences with unripe seeds are certainly added to pickled vegetables and mushrooms.

Dill: medicinal properties

The healing properties of dill have been known since Ancient Egypt. They knew about them in Persia and India. IN Ancient Greece Hippocrates praised him, and in the Middle Ages Avicenna devoted a lot of space to him in his monumental work “The Canon of Medicine”. It was in the Middle Ages that dill spread widely throughout Europe. Poets sang its aroma in poetry. Dill was credited with the ability to ward off evil spirits.

They treated not only diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, but also kidneys, migraines, anemia, insomnia, and eye diseases.

In this folk experience is confirmed modern science, which confirmed that dill has the following properties:

• antispasmodic;
• anti-inflammatory;
• choleretic;
• diuretic;
• vasodilator;
• expectorant;
• antiseptic.

Dill is also used in cosmetics to get rid of acne and whiten freckles.

For women, dill helps get rid of cycle disruptions, but pregnant women need to be careful with it, since dill oil tones the uterus and, if consumed excessively, can lead to miscarriage.

For men, dill can help with problems with potency. It is not for nothing that in Ancient Greece it was considered an aphrodisiac and was pinned to clothing to increase desire. Dill dilates blood vessels, including those in the corpus cavernosum, so the rumor about this property was well founded. In addition, it relieves nervous excitement and eliminates self-doubt.

It perfectly whitens teeth and eliminates bad breath, so chewing a sprig of dill will be beneficial on a date.

However, dill should not be eaten by those who suffer from allergies. Unfortunately, essential oils of this plant- quite a powerful allergen. It is also not recommended for hypotensive patients to get carried away with the product.

Growing dill in the garden

It would seem that there is nothing simpler - I scattered seeds on the ground in early spring, slightly loosen the soil and pick the fragrant greens after a month. Well, that’s possible, but it’s better to approach this matter according to all the rules of agronomic science. Then the harvest will be higher, the greens will be juicier, and there will be much more vitamins in it.

The bed needs to be prepared in the fall: dig it to a depth of 20 cm and add compost. As soon as the snow melts, you can start planting. Dill seeds are small and should be planted shallow. They germinate slowly due to the abundance of essential oils that prevent water absorption and swelling.

The first shoots will appear in 2-3 weeks. You can speed up this process by pre-soaking the seeds for 3 days in warm water(50 degrees). Some gardeners even scald them with boiling water. If you planted soaked seeds, be sure to cover the bed with film. And in the case of sowing with dry seeds, this is useful. Shoots will appear much earlier.

Seeds can be sown several times at intervals of two weeks. Then you will be guaranteed all summer fresh herbs. Dill is also planted before winter, just before the snow cover is established, so that the seeds do not have time to germinate.

You can plant dill even in January! To do this, the bed is cleared of snow, seeds are scattered and sprinkled with compost or peat.

Caring for dill is simple - just water it on time. It does not require fertilizers; compost added before planting is sufficient. But if the leaves begin to turn yellow ahead of time, then pour a weak solution of urea (1 teaspoon per bucket of water) or mullein (1:10). It is useful to know that dill varieties are early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening.

The former will delight you with fragrant greenery much earlier, but they will also bloom faster, and therefore their yield is lower. These include varieties such as “Gribovsky” and “Umbrella”. They are sown under film in early spring.

Mid-season varieties (“Uzory”, “Lesnogorodsky”, “Borey”, “Umbrella”, “Richelieu”, “Kibray”) give more leaves, but the greens are ready to eat a week later. They are useful for lightly salted cucumbers, and they are also very tasty in salads.

Late varieties (“Buyan”, “Salyut”, “Alligator”, “Amazon”) - give the most big harvest, but you will have to wait 2-2.5 months for it.

Fennel

Unlike dill, fennel can be found much less often in vegetable gardens, especially in middle lane. And this is not surprising. Fennel is much more heat-loving, because it is native to the south. Its habitat in the wild does not extend beyond the North Caucasus.

Botanical description

This is a tall biennial or perennial herbaceous plant growing up to 1.8-2 m. The root is thickened, fleshy, spindle-shaped. The stem is branched, rounded, furrowed, with a bluish-blue coating. At the base of the stem, just like dill, there is a basal rosette of long leaves. In vegetable varieties, the petioles of the leaves grow together into a rounded head, shaped like an onion. More small leaves are also located along the entire height of the stem.

The very top of the stem is decorated with several inflorescences in the shape of a double umbrella, only the number of rays they have is less than that of dill, no more than 20, and often only 3, and the inflorescences themselves smaller in size. Blooms from July to September. The flowers are the same as dill. The fruits are two-seeds up to 1 cm long, easily falling apart into two slices. They do not ripen at the same time, starting from early September and ending in October.

Chemical composition and nutritional value of fennel

By chemical composition dill and fennel are very close. Fennel bulb contains 1.24% protein, 0.2% fat and 7.3% carbohydrates. Calorie content – ​​31 kcal/100 g. Fiber content – ​​3.1%, which is 15.5% of the daily requirement (per 100 g).

Fennel contains 12 mg of vitamin C, which is 13.3% of the daily requirement, carotene - 12.8% of the daily requirement per 100g, and very little folic acid (1.2% of the daily requirement).

There is significantly less calcium in the onion than in dill leaves (5.2% of the norm per 100 g), as well as magnesium (5.4%), potassium (5.4%), phosphorus (9.7%), iron (0.9%), manganese (10.2%), copper (10.0%) and zinc (1.7%). Green leaves contain more of them, and fruits contain even more than leaves.

Fennel in cooking

A fennel bulb can be added to soups and salads, fried or stewed, combined with other vegetables to prepare a flavorful stew, added to sauces, or pickled. It goes especially well with beef or chicken, giving dishes a flavor that will be remembered for a long time. Greens can be used instead of dill, but the smell of the dishes will be completely different, similar to anise or tarragon. The fruits are added to baked goods and confectionery.

Fennel: medicinal properties

Fennel was known to the ancient Egyptians, from whom the ancient Greeks also learned about it, who attributed miraculous and magical properties to it.

He has the same medicinal properties, like dill, but has a noticeably stronger effect. Thanks to anethole in the composition of the essential oil, it has a much more pronounced expectorant and lactogenic effect, so it is better to use it for coughs and to increase milk in nursing mothers. For pregnant women, it is much less dangerous than dill, so they often use it for intestinal problems.

For many summer residents, summer is a time not only for relaxation, but also for worrying about the future harvest and winter supplies. Especially popular are various herbs, seasonings and spices that can be grown on your own plot. Today we will discuss growing fennel from seeds. This plant has recently become popular in our latitudes, and therefore few people know its features and characteristics.

Fennel on your site

Fennel belongs to the perennial plants of the umbrella family, but our gardeners prefer to grow this herb as an annual.

1. The fennel stem is erect, highly branched, and can grow up to 2 meters in height. Sometimes a bluish coating is observed on it. The plant has a powerful root system with one or more main taproots up to 1.5 cm thick.
2. Fennel leaves resemble dill in appearance. It is even called pharmaceutical dill. The plant blooms in small yellow flowers. The flowering time begins in July and continues until the end of August.
3. After flowering, fennel produces seeds that fully ripen by the end of September. They are very small, about 10 mm long and 3 mm wide, oblong in shape. the weight of 1000 seeds is 5-7 grams.

Externally, fennel resembles dill

There are three ways to harvest fennel for future use:

• harvesting leaves;
• seed procurement;
• harvesting roots.

Collecting leaves can be done all summer. They are washed, dried and ventilated. After this, the leaves can be consumed fresh, for example, in salads, or you can chop it, dry it, put it in a glass container, close it tightly and use it in winter.

The seeds are collected when they are fully ripe and brown. After collecting, they need to be dried in a dark, ventilated place for 2-3 days, and then kneaded and threshed. The seeds should be stored in a tightly closed pan.

The roots for harvesting are dug up in the fall, thoroughly washed, chopped and dried or frozen in this form. There is an easier way: shake the soil from the dug out root and store it in the basement like all other root vegetables.

Please note: fennel is very widely used as a medicinal product that has bactericidal, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, anthelmintic, antioxidant and analgesic effects. This plant will come in handy not only in the kitchen, but also in your home medicine cabinet.

Preliminary data on crop cultivation

Fennel loves heat very much, so it prefers regions with long, warm summers and mild winter. Very demanding of moisture, loves fertile soil, rich in lime and deeply cultivated. Waterlogged soil is unsuitable for fennel. It is desirable that the soil is slightly alkaline, close to neutral.

Fennel seeds germinate at a temperature of 6-10 degrees, but best temperature– from 20 to 30 degrees. Shoots appear in 14-15 days, and unfriendlyly. Fennel sprouts may be prone to bolting due to:

• sowing too early;
• dry soil;
• thickening of seedlings.

Fennel tolerates autumn cold relatively well, but in the middle zone it is better to cover it for the winter. In the second year, the fennel growing season will begin at the end of April.

Experts divide fennel varieties into 2 groups: ordinary and vegetable. The common variety has several subgroups according to yield, early maturity and foliage. Some varieties are rich in essential oils, which gives them a bright aroma. Vegetable varieties of fennel, on the contrary, have a more delicate smell.

There are many vegetable varieties with heads. Their differences among themselves are in the shape and color of the leaves, as well as in the shape and size of the heads. They can be round or flat.

Among the most common fennel varieties in the middle zone are the following:

• Lighthouse;
• Chernivtsi local;
• Martisor;
• Crimean;
• Luzhnikovsky;
• Aroma;
• Semko;
• Leader;
• Soprano;
• Autumn beauty;
• Daredevil.

Each variety has its own characteristics and requirements for cultivation.

Sowing seeds and care

Choosing the right seeds for sowing - here main secret growing and receiving good harvest. When selecting material for planting, be guided by the conditions required for a particular variety: climate, soil composition, illumination of the area.

Vegetable fennel seeds should be sown in spring or before winter at a depth of 2 centimeters. Prepare the bed for sowing in advance. If necessary, lim the soil and fertilize it in one of the following ways:

• adding humus in the ratio of 1 bucket per 1 sq.m.;
• adding old sawdust (two-liter jar per 1 sq.m.);
• adding superphosphates (2 tablespoons per 1 sq.m.).

When developing a bed for growing fennel, dig it thoroughly and loosen the soil with a rake. Seed grooves should be made at a distance of 60-70 cm from each other.

Spring sowing is carried out in the first ten days of April. After this, the fennel bed should be kept under film until May to retain moisture and protect the seedlings from frost.

On days 5-10, the seedlings must be thinned out so that there is a distance of about 20 cm between the plants. A high-quality head of cabbage can develop up to 10 cm in diameter, so it needs space. After you finish thinning, feed the seedlings with mullein infusion and lightly hill up the seedlings.

Hilling will also be required at the end of May - beginning of June. Some experts recommend hilling fennel several times to bleach the developing heads. But in practice, the fleshy bases of the cuttings get dirty when hilling. To avoid this, in June, protect the lower part of the plant with a special “clothing”. Cut from plastic bottle volume 2 liters, two rings 20 cm wide. Place the ring on the plant and dig it slightly into the soil. You can also run a plastic strip around the plant and secure it. Hill up to the height of the ring.

While the fennel is growing, it needs to be fed 2 more times with mullein or infusion fermented grass and water regularly, especially if the summer is hot and dry.

Video about growing fennel from seeds in a summer cottage

Now you know a little more about growing fennel from seeds. You can always use this wonderful culture in the preparation of your favorite dishes to give them a wonderful, unique aroma and taste. If you have any questions about this topic, please ask them in the comments. We will also be glad if you share with us your experience of growing fennel. Good luck to you and have a good harvest!

Fennel has a pleasant, sweetish aroma and slightly spicy taste. It is used in a variety of recipes like vegetable crop and as an aromatic spice.
The history of fennel use goes back to the pre-Christian era and was mentioned by the ancient Greeks, who revered fennel for its healing properties.

Cooking fennel does not require any special skill.

How to choose and use fennel

1. When choosing fennel, choose plants with bright green stems that are dense and elastic to the touch, but never limp or soft. If you are not going to cook fennel the day you purchase it, then know that it can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days, preferably in paper bags.

2. Before cooking the fennel, you should separate the small bulb - simply separate the white part of the stem from the green part. The stem and leaves can be saved for later use in soups and other dishes, as a side dish or seasoning; we will cook the onion with stolon.

3. Fennel can be eaten raw or cooked. Raw it has a more pronounced mint-dill flavor, while cooked fennel is more delicate and mild in taste. No matter how you prepare the fennel, it is cut the same way. Cut the onion into four wedges, remove the inner core and hard external leaves. Each quarter is, in turn, finely chopped.

4. Fennel uses fennel roots, stems, leaves, fruits and even seeds.

Dishes with fennel. Fennel in the cuisine of the world

In European cuisine, fresh fennel leaves are often added to salads, first and second courses of vegetables and fish, as well as sauces and mayonnaise. The combination of this spice with salmon, sardines, mackerel, perch and other is especially popular. sea ​​fish. Fennel also makes a great addition to fatty meats, especially pork. In Italian cuisine it is often pickled. Among other things, whole fennel leaves are placed under meat, chicken, and fish when baking.

Blanched and chilled fennel stalks often serve as a garnish in Mediterranean cuisine.

The tops of flowering fennel are used in home canning. They help improve the aroma of marinades used for pickling tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, squash and other vegetables.

Green fennel seeds are added to fish dishes such as canned herring, Italian pork, sausages and sometimes veal dishes. They are used for soaking dried figs and for baking bread and cookies. Ground fennel seeds are used to sprinkle meat that will be roasted on a spit.

Raw chopped fennel can be mixed with citrus fruits to create easy useful salad. Fennel with apples and nuts is also good. Roasted fennel can be used as a vegetable supplement various recipes pizza, meatball soup, baked fish. Fennel is stewed in olive oil, slightly salted, for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 200 C.

IN in different forms fennel is used in the preparation of sweet dishes and desserts.

Fennel and Indian cuisine

We should also talk about the use of fennel in Indian cuisine. It is often used for pickling vegetables and added to dishes made from lamb. Fennel seeds are fried in a frying pan without adding oil before use. This heat treatment makes the spice sweeter and more aromatic.

Roasted fennel is a great breath freshener, so chew it after every meal. Fennel not only helps eliminate unpleasant odor from the mouth, it also has a positive effect on the digestion process. This plant is an essential ingredient in the famous spicy mixture “Panch Phoron”.

Fennel in the food industry

In European countries, this spice is used in the industrial canning of fish and the production of sausages.

The fruits and roots of the plant have long been used in baking bakery and some confectionery products. Ground fennel seeds serve as raw material for vegetable oil, which is used in confectionery production.

Fennel fruit powder is added to various drinks, teas, and syrups to improve their aroma. In addition, it is used to flavor alcohol.

Vegetable soup with fennel

To prepare the dish you will need:

• fennel (petiolate) - 1-2 pcs.
• celery (root) – 100g
• leek – 100g
• carrots – 100g
• potatoes - 300g
• vegetable oil – 50ml
• salt to taste

Preparation:

Cut the well-washed leeks into small cubes, and the separated and washed fennel stalks into large pieces.

Turn the washed and peeled carrots and celery into thin long sticks. Saute all vegetables for vegetable oil approximately 3 minutes.

Cut the washed and peeled potatoes into long pieces, pour boiling water over them and cook first for 5 minutes, and then, after adding the sautéed vegetables, for another 3 minutes. Add some salt.

The soup is served with sour cream or fresh cream. If desired, you can add freshly squeezed carrot juice and crushed nut kernels to it.

Pizza with fennel, thyme and marinated olives

A very simple pizza recipe made from ready-made dough, which must first be thawed.

To prepare the dish you will need:

• pizza base (ready dough)
• black olives marinated in oil and herbs – 50g
• olive oil - 2-3 tbsp.
• fennel - 1 pc.
• crumbled goat cheese without rind - 100g
• sea ​​salt - 1 tsp.
• thyme (leaves) - 2-3 pcs.

Preparation:

Marinate the olives in a jar with chopped Provençal herbs and olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Grease the pizza base with olive oil.

Heat a frying pan with olive oil, add fennel and fry for 4-5 minutes until golden brown. Then remove the fennel from the pan and arrange it on the pizza along with the olives and goat cheese.

Drizzle another tablespoon of olive oil over the top, sprinkle with salt and thyme and cook for 10-15 minutes for thin dough or 15-20 minutes for thick dough.

Fennel pretty rare plant in Russia. In other countries, this herb is widely used.

In our country, girls usually learn about fennel for the first time in the maternity hospital, as dill water, which can increase milk flow when feeding a baby or relieve colic in infants. But that's it beneficial features fennel is not limited to. This plant contains a lot miraculous properties and can replace many medications. Let's take a closer look at this unusually valuable plant.

Fennel plant. What is it like?

Fennel is a herbaceous plant, up to 2 meters tall, biennial or perennial, belonging to the Umbelliferae family. This medicinal-spicy plant with pale yellow small flowers has been known since ancient times.

Externally, fennel resembles dill and tastes like anise. Fennel differs from anise in its more pronounced sweetish taste, with notes of tarragon and mint.

What types of fennel are known?

There are two types of fennel: common and vegetable.

• Common fennel attracts attention with the aroma of leaves and fruits. Another name for it is dill.
• Vegetable fennel, known as Italian, Florentine, is grown to produce juicy heads and leaf petioles.

Where is fennel used?

Fennel has found its use in medicine, cosmetology, cooking, soap production, veterinary medicine, animal husbandry, and beverage production.

Fennel in medicine

Fennel ordinary medicine known since time immemorial. This plant contains substances that improve digestion and have a diuretic and expectorant effect. Fennel is indispensable for infants. It helps relieve colic and intestinal pain in infants, is an indispensable assistant parents when caring for small children.

If you have problems with digestive system fennel is recommended for use in adults for intestinal bloating, colitis, to relieve stomach cramps, constipation. This medicinal plant used to increase muscle tone of the stomach and treat atony. Even ancient doctors noticed this important property fennel as an increase in appetite. Fennel root can replace the most expensive synthetic laxative.

“Dill water” is used as a sedative for insomnia.

Fennel is a natural hormonal remedy.. It contains anethole, an essential oil that promotes the production of estrogen ( female hormones). Thanks to this, fennel - irreplaceable plant for women. It normalizes the balance of hormones, facilitates menstruation and menopause. In the postpartum period, fennel helps normalize milk production when feeding a baby.

Modern medicine, along with homeopathy, prescribes fennel decoctions for respiratory diseases: cough, bronchitis, pneumonia as an expectorant.

It has been noted that fennel has antifungal and antibacterial properties.

Fennel in cooking

Fennel has been known since ancient times as a seasoning, a spice that has a sweetish-sharp taste. It is also called sweet cumin. Almost all parts of this plant are used in cooking: from root to seeds. “Paws” (leaves) are added to salads and first courses. Fennel gives an extraordinary taste to fish and meat dishes. Fennel fruits (oblong seeds) are used in pickles and marinades. They can replace cumin seeds. The root is used in baking.

In Europe, fennel is used in the production of sausages, sausages, and cheese.

Contraindications when using fennel

Like any medicinal plant, fennel must be used with caution. The herb and fruits of fennel contain specific substances, including essential oil, which can both improve the health of the human body and cause harm if used incorrectly.

Fennel is contraindicated for pregnant women, as bleeding and termination of pregnancy are possible.

This herb is contraindicated for people intolerant of the aroma of cumin and anise. Essential oils The plants contained in the seeds can cause allergies.

How to grow fennel

Despite the existing contraindications for fennel, this plant generally has a beneficial effect on human health and rejuvenates the body. In Russia, this natural medicine has not become as widespread as in Europe or Asia. The benefits of this plant are obvious, so many people wanted to have it on hand, preferably in the countryside or in the garden.

How to grow fennel personal plot? The simplest and reliable way– sow fennel seeds in fertile soil, away from dill, basil, parsley, and cilantro. The proximity of related plants can contribute to cross-pollination and deterioration of the taste of seeds. Watering and loosening the soil are simple actions, and the most valuable medicinal herb will delight you with his harvest.

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