Fennel is a highly aromatic and flavourful herb with culinary and medicinal uses and, along with the similar-tasting anise, is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. The bulb, foliage, and seeds of the fennel plant are widely used in many of the culinary traditions of the world. Dried fennel seed is an aromatic, anise-flavoured spice, brown or green in colour when fresh, slowly turning a dull grey as the seed ages. For cooking, green seeds are optimal.
