Until last week, wild fennel was a great frustration to us. In the early summer months the stuff sprouts all around us; glorious fragrant fennel, but with no bulb worth braising. After much discussion and consternation we realized the answer to our woe was staring us in the nose: Fennel Pollen.
In Tuscan cuisine the pollen of Fennel flowers is referred to as “fairy dust,” or “the spice of angels.” It imparts a fragrant and flavorful vibe to anything on which you choose to sprinkle. Dose you’re evening tea, rub the pollen on greased vegetables before grilling, or if you’re really feeling randy: finish your roasted (non-wild) fennel bulbs with a spoonful of their own seed…sick.
1. Find some wild fennel.
2. Check out the flowers. If they’re nice and yellow as above, then they’re ripe for plunder. Snip a large stalk as far from the flower as you can–the more stem the better, and return home to string em up.
3. After snipping the individual stalks make a little bouquet, tie the stems together at the bottom with twine or string, leaving enough rope to hang em.
4. Hang your bundle of joy inside a paper bag, in a cool dark place. Once a day, shake the bouquet against the bag to encourage the pollen out of the flowers. After about a week you should have shaken out all the pollen you’ll get. Carefully dump the contents of the bag onto a sheet of wax paper, collect and store the pollen in a little glass jar.
