Fennel seeds

Indigenous to the Mediterranean countries, fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a member of the parsley family. Its seeds are used in Indian spice blends, while the feathery leaves and the bulbous stem are abundantly consumed in Mediterranean cultures. When you leave an Indian restaurant, you see a bowl of toasted sugar-coated fennel seeds, waiting for you to pop a spoonful into your mouth. This spice is a great breath freshener—anise-like, refreshing—and a powerful digestive. The seeds are light green and resemble caraway and cumin. In curries they can be toasted, roasted in oil, or simply ground in spice blends to weave their sweet magic. Some of the curries, especially those that start with mustard oil, rely on fennel seeds to lower the oil’s pungently bitter taste. When ground, the seeds assert a stronger, weaving sweet magic in many of the curries they spice.