Herb of The Month
Fennel
What a pleasure it is to have fennel bulb and leaf in the box, a sure sign of spring. You may be familiar with using the bulb chopped into soups or grated finely into salads but wait, don’t throw away all of those feathery leaves!
The ‘leaves’ which are dark green, wispy and feather like are also a wonderful medicinal food. Chop them up finely and garnish just about any dish with them. Make fennel leaf tea or put them in soups and salads. I enjoy minced fennel leaf on most fish. I also chop the leaves into fine little pieces and put several tablespoons of it into each serving of salad. Chopped fennel leaf is also tasty in sandwiches! It adds a delicious, light, sweet flavor to your lunch and dinner meals.
In the Mediterranean where Fennel is a wild, native plant it has been used for thousands of years as a food. The whole plant, the root, stalk, leaf, flower and seed are a common food. Baked fish stuffed with fennel leaf is a common dish in France. Fennel seeds are found in many meat dishes in Italy and Spanish soups often contain fennel bulb when it is in season. The Mediterranean herbs grow well here, so we can just borrow their recipes!
Fennel leaf also makes a good tasting tea. When you drink fennel leaf tea, it helps to settle your stomach. It is good to drink after any meal to help with digestion. If you don’t get around to eating all of your fennel leaf, hang it up in your kitchen or lay it out on a basket and let it dry. Once it is dry, crumble it to a powder and store it in a jar and use it as a seasoning for sauces and marinades. It is a flavorful digestive aid that goes well with just about any other spice combination.
You are getting two foods in one this week. The bulb is a completely different food. Fennel bulb is high in Vitamin C, potassium and manganese. It also contains easy to absorb calcium and iron. Fennel bulb is a great source of fiber, helping to tone and nourish your colon. High fiber foods are known to reduce undesirable elevated cholesterols and reduce the risk of colon cancer.
Fennel bulb contains helpful phytonutrients (plant nutrients) including flavonoids that we have been hearing a lot about lately. Abundant in fennel bulb, quercetin and rutin are used to reduce inflammation and put a check on allergies. If you have a tendency toward allergies this time of year, this would be a good vegetable to eat regularly.
I sauté fennel bulb with onions and garlic as the base for pasta sauce, I put it in soup and I love it raw in salads. I add chopped fennel bulb to any thing that I would normally add celery to such as chicken and tuna salad, soups and cabbage salad.
Fennel Salad
1 finely chopped fennel bulb
1 chopped carrot
1 avocado
1 orange broken into small pieces
1 chopped celery stalk
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
Dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon agave nectar
Fennel Cole Slaw
2 thinly sliced fennel bulbs
1 cup thinly sliced red or green cabbage
1 chopped celery stalk
Chopped red onion to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons minced fennel leaf
1 tablespoon fresh garden herbs (rosemary, thyme or savory)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon powdered mustard seed
Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine since 1988. Through her classes and personal wellness consultations she helps people understand how whole foods and herbal medicine are an important aspect of everyone’s preventive health care plan. Kami has helped thousands of people learn to use herbs in their daily lives in ways that are healthy, safe and fun and she teaches classes in herbal medicine and women’s health at her school and herb gardens in Vacaville, California. She can be reached at 707-446-1290 or www.livingawareness.com
I am very interested in geneology and learning about my ancestors. I have an aunt that is almost 70 and she has lots of memories of my great grandmother and my great, great grandmother. I call her and interview her quite often so I can get my ancestor stories in my bones. When we talk about my great grandmother Sarah Trefren, the first thing my aunt says is “She made the best rhubarb pie, I loved her rhubarb pies, nobody makes good rhubarb pies anymore!”
Lots of old timers used to make rhubarb pie and its true you don’t go to many pot lucks where someone has made a rhubarb pie. Maybe one of the reasons they made that pie is because it is so easy to grow and when there weren’t any other fruits ripe you could still harvest rhubarb. Did you know that rhubarb has inspired a number of festivals around the world? In England they hold an annual rhubarb championship.
Rhubarb enhances gall bladder function and helps to heal gastrointestinal inflammation. It helps with constipation, liver function and heals malabsorption. Rhubarb is historically used as a blood builder and blood cleanser.
Any thing that tastes bitter helps to enhance digestion. The bitter taste in rhubarb, increases the flow of saliva, digestive enzymes, bile for emulsifying fats and all of the other juices throughout the digestive tract.
Rhubarb is a very gently laxative that also strengthens and tones the colon. It helps to eliminate hemorrhoid problems, encourages the healing of ulcers and improves gall bladder function. All of this means that you digest your food better and eliminate waste more efficiently. I talk about the value of digestion a lot because basically what it means is that you have to spend less of your daily energy on digestion therefore you have more vitality at the end of the day to do what you love. Your body can spend up to 50% of your daily energy on digestion. If you use herbs to support it, then you free up more of your daily energy to live your life with more passion!
Herb of the Month by Kami McBride
Kami is a sixth generation resident of the Putah Creek bio-region and a deep relationship with the Earth is at the heart of her herbal practice. Her love for the plants was inspired by her Grandfather John McBride who was Vacaville’s first Parks and Recreation Director. Before it was popular he worked to save open space and preserve the creeks and trees. Growing up in the passion of his life’s work Kami learned a deep love and respect for the earth.
Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine and women’s health since 1988. Through her classes and personal wellness consultations with clients, Kami helps people understand how whole food and herbal medicine is an important aspect of everyone’s preventive health care plan. Your food is your first medicine. With her extensive knowledge of whole foods and healing plants Kami has helped thousands of people learn to use food and herbs in their daily lives in ways that are healthy, safe and fun.
Kami teaches experiential earth awareness and herbal studies classes at her school and herb gardens in Vacaville, California.
For a schedule of classes and workshops, Kami can be reached at 707-446-1290 or
www.livingawareness.com
P.O. Box 5381
Vacaville, CA 95696
707 -446-1290