Before writing this op I conducted a (non-representative) survey: do my British online friends know, grow, eat fennel? The result: they all know it, some grow it, nobody eats it.

The Romans valued the young shoots as vegetable, the plant is indigenous to the Mediterranean lands, it can be found growing wild on dry soils near the sea-coast and on river banks (I've seen it in Sardinia!); thanks to Charlemagne (742 AD - 814 AD) who enjoyed its cultivation on the imperial farms fennel was distributed throughout Central Europe, it had found its way to Northern Europe already before the Norman Conquest, it's frequently mentioned in Anglo-Saxon cookery books.

Quite impressive, this plant, but it's not its versatility as a medicinal plant that attracts me to it, when I think of fennel, I think of the bulbs of the so-called finocchio* fennel (also called Florence fennel), a special type produced for its thickened leaf bases. Many years ago in spring I travelled in the area of Naples, Pompeij and Paestum, I remember lorries parked at the side of the roads filled with fennel bulbs fresh from the fields that were sold to the people passing by.

I don't know where the fennel bulbs you can buy in GB come from, in Germany we get Italian ones from the fields in spring and then for the rest of the year German ones from greenhouses. A good fresh bulb should be firm, white, the outer layer shouldn't show any cuts, it should have a minimum diameter of 5 cm (~ the fist of an adult).

The outer layer is the thickest, if one throws it away because it's dirty, there isn't much left of the bulb. I cut the bulb into halves, cut out and throw away the thick white core at the bottom, then take off layer after layer, peel the outer layer with a knife, wash the pieces and dry them with a tissue.

Simple does it! Put the washed and dried layers, cut into longish pieces, on a plate together with a sandwich, some people think they taste better when sprinkled with a bit of salt, others prefer the taste neat, fennel is crunchy, it's a pleasure to eat it like that. You should test yourself if you like the taste at all, it's said that people either love or hate fennel, if you discover that it isn't made for you, you can give it (in case you haven't put salt on it) to your rodent pets, they will love you for it!

Wash, dry and cut the fennel into forkable pieces, mix with slices of tomato and cut some ruccola leaves into it (I cut rocket with a pair of scissors over the bowl). Make a dressing of olive oil, balsamico vinegar, salt and pepper. This salad doesn't only taste well, it also pleases the eye, especially if you decorate it with some feathery fennel leaves that always stick at the bulb!

Wash, dry, cut the fennel into pieces and boil with some water and some salt for about 8 minutes, it shouldn't become too soft. Then put the fennel (without the water) in a pan with some oil or butter and stir it for about 5 minutes until it becomes brownish. Then into a pot which you can put into the oven (I have a glass pot in which I boil the fennel and which I can also put into the oven), cover the fennel with thin slices of medium mature Gouda cheese, shove the open pot into the oven and wait until the cheese has melted.