Finocchio

It was in the hollow pith of the giant fennel, Ferula communis, that Prometheus concealed a lump of live charcoal broken from the torch he lit at the fiery chariot of the sun, defying Zeus, and brought fire to mankind: a sacred plant, the fire bearer.

Robert Graves says in Greek Myths’. ‘The mythic importance of Marathus (fennel) lay in the use made of fennel stalks for carrying the new sacred fire from the central hearth to private ones after their annual extinction.’

The wild form of F vulgare (till recently classified separately as F officinalis, to indicate its use by apothecaries and its health-giving properties) grows vigorously, with the giant fennel, in droughty calcareous situations all round the Mediterranean and can be sown from seed. It is these seeds which are used in cooking and conserving, being far more fragrant than the cultivated kind. The fronds are used in delicate fish stuffings, in soups, and – along with thistles, dandelions, etc – in a Tuscan dish of boiled weeds in spring.