Wakefield Museums and Castles

Week 56 volunteer update

The ground was still sticky, but we couldn’t leave it any longer. Today we carried out our annual “cull” of the liquorice. Liquorice can send runners out to 20 feet (6 m). So, we have to control it so that it doesn’t take over the garden.

Caroline and Louis tidied around the rhubarb, which is coming on nicely. They also cut back the soapwort. Meanwhile, Carole and Kim tackled the liquorice.

The liquorice runners are not wasted. They are cut and washed and passed on to Kelly, Learning Officer. She will use them on some of her outreach teaching days with local schools.

As the ground was soft, we took the opportunity to remove a couple of the larger bushes that we no longer needed. We moved the green feverfew.

We then transferred the second obelisk into its final position. The hops are already showing growth buds. They were planted to one side of the obelisk.

Hopefully, if the weather gets a bit drier, we will be able to get to grips with the weeding. We will also move plants around that have outgrown their allotted space.

Plant of the week: Fennel (foeniculum officinale)

'Foeniculum' is the genus name for fennel. This comes from the Latin word 'foenum', meaning hay, because of its hay-like scent. This was corrupted in the Middle Ages into 'Fanculum'. In turn, this led to its alternative popular name 'fenkel'. 'Fennel' came into Old English via 'fenoil', the Old French version of Foeniculum.

Fennel is native to the Mediterranean. It is a hardy, evergreen, perennial herb. It is umbelliferous, which means it is part of the umbellifer plant family.

It prefers to grow in full sun to partial shade, in chalky soil. However, it will grow in any well-drained soil other than heavy clay. Fennel smells similar to aniseed or liquorice.

Fennel can grow up to 7 feet (over 2 metres) tall. It has an erect, hollow, smooth, green stem. The leaves grow up to 16 inches (40 cm) long. They are finely dissected, with the final segments being filiform (threadlike) and very narrow.

Fennel typically flowers between August to October. However, visitors to the Medieval Herb Garden will have seen that ours was still in flower in January!

The flowers are golden-yellow. They are terminal, flat-topped, compound umbels of tiny florets. The florets are 2 to 7 inches (5 to 18 cm) wide. Each umbel section has 20 to 50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels.

Fennel has a deep, strong, whiteish taproot. It does not form a base bulb like the Florence fennel, which is used as a vegetable.

Culinary uses of fennel

Every part of the plant smells and tastes like aniseed or liquorice. It is often used when cooking fish, to flavour salads and soups, or is chopped into salads. The stems are used to flavour oils and vinegars. The seeds are often dried and sometimes ground. These are used in many different cuisines in both savoury and sweet foods.

Fennel seeds are the main flavour component in Italian sausage. In Spain, the stems of the fennel plant are used in the preparation of pickled aubergines (berenjenas de Almagro).

In many parts of India, fennel seeds are called saunf. Sanuf is consumed raw or roasted as mukhwas. This is an after-meal digestive and breath freshener. They are also candied as a comfit.

Fennel is also an essential ingredient in the Assamese / Bengali / Oriya spice mixture panch phoron, and Chinese five-spice. In China, fennel stem and leaves are often ingredients in the stuffings of jiaozi and baozi. They are also used in cold dishes as a green vegetable.

In Syria and Lebanon, the young leaves are used to make an omelette (along with onions and flour) called ijjeh.