Fennel

A common plant in 18th-century Charleston kitchen gardens, fennel—or finocchio—had all but disappeared from local tables until recently. It was once so commonly planted in the Southeast that it has naturalized in some areas. Old homesites along riverbanks are often dotted with the feathery, dill-like stalks of “wild” or “dog” fennel. Native to the Mediterranean and southern Asia, finocchio probably came to the Lowcountry with early Greek settlers, though by 1957, when Charleston’s Ladies of the Philoptochos Society compiled the excellent Popular Greek Recipes, it was no longer mentioned.