Fennel

Growing up in California, I was surrounded by wild fennel. It grew wherever there was a bit of space, even along city streets. My great-aunt, who grew up in San Francisco, remembered chewing on it as a little girl before the 1906 earthquake. She and her classmates called it “ladies’ chewing tobacco.”

In the United States fennel isn’t in season in the summer, which is unfortunate because its flavor goes so well with summery Mediterranean things like tomatoes, garlic, and fresh basil. But if you want fennel in the summer, you’ll have to buy it imported from Italy.