F - SPICES, HERBS, AND BLENDS FROM A TO Z - The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs - Padma Lakshmi

The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World - Padma Lakshmi (2016)

SPICES, HERBS, AND BLENDS FROM A TO Z

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PREVIOUS SPREAD, CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: filé powder, fennel pollen, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, dried fenugreek, and fines herbes

FENNEL

BOTANICAL NAME: Foeniculum vulgare

OTHER NAMES: common fennel, sweet fennel, saunf

FORMS: whole seeds and ground

FENNEL SEED TEA Pour 1 cup boiling water over 1½ teaspoons crushed fennel seeds and steep for 10 minutes, then strain.

Fennel is native to southern Europe, but wild fennel grows abundantly in many countries, and fennel has long been popular in China as well as in India, where it is known as saunf. Florence fennel (F. dulce) is the type eaten as a vegetable; common fennel, which provides the seeds, is a taller biennial or perennial plant that does not have the rounded bulb of Florence fennel. Today, major producers include Italy, France, Germany, Russia, the Middle East, and India, though fennel is also grown in many other regions of the northern hemisphere.

Fennel is harvested just before the seeds are fully mature. The stalks are cut and left to dry, usually in an area protected from the sun to preserve the color and flavor of the seeds, and then threshed to remove the seeds.

The small oval seeds are slightly curved, with prominent paler longitudinal ridges; the color ranges from bright green to greenish-yellow. When buying them, look for green seeds, which are of better quality. Some seeds may still have small stalks attached, but avoid jars or packages that contain a lot of bristle-like stalks. The aromatic seeds have a strong licorice fragrance and a sweet anise flavor. Lucknow fennel, grown exclusively in Lucknow, India, is highly regarded. The seeds are smaller and thinner than common fennel seeds and the aroma and flavor are more delicate. Fennel seeds are usually used whole; toasting them, as is often done in India and Asia, makes them easier to grind.

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Fennel seeds pair especially well with fish and seafood and are used to season both fish and cured fish throughout Europe. The seeds are one of the most popular spices in Italy, where they appear in finocchiona and many other cured sausages, as well as in traditional pork dishes. The seeds, whole or ground, are also used in breads, including a nigella-flavored bread in Iraq, and in many pickles, as well as in sauerkraut and pickled herring. Fennel seeds complement the flavor of tomatoes and season many tomato-based sauces in both Europe and India. They are also an ingredient in Indian curries and satay sauces. The seeds are considered an amalgamating spice, and they complement cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cardamom, fenugreek, and mustard seeds, as well as other warming spices, and ginger and chiles. They are an ingredient in many spice blends, including Chinese five-spice powder, panch phoron, and garam masala, and numerous curry powders and pickling spice mixes. The leaves are used in Syria and Lebanon to make an egg dish called ijeh.

Fennel seeds can be chewed as a breath freshener or a palate refresher. In India, Lucknow fennel seeds, toasted or raw, are often offered after dinner; Indian restaurants sometimes provide sugarcoated or sweetened fennel seeds. Fennel seeds are frequently an ingredient in paan, the betel leaf-wrapped breath freshener that is ubiquitous in India. The essential oil from fennel seeds is used in anisette, pastis, and other liqueurs.

MEDICINAL USES: Fennel is important in Ayurvedic and other traditional medicine. The seeds are considered a digestive and believed to relieve asthma and bronchial disorders. They are often infused into a soothing tea (see Fennel Seed Tea).

FENNEL POLLEN

Fennel pollen has become a favorite “secret ingredient” for contemporary chefs. The pollen is painstakingly collected from wild fennel plants once they flower and then dried. Most fennel pollen comes from Italy or California. The yellow powder has the flavor of fennel seeds but is far more intense and yet also more nuanced. It is excellent with fish and shellfish and very good with roast chicken or pork. It can be stirred into risotto or pasta or grain dishes, and it is used to season sausages and cured meats. It’s expensive—understandably so, considering the harvesting method and the low yield from even a field of wild fennel—but you only need a pinch to transform a dish.

FENUGREEK

BOTANICAL NAME: Trigonella foenum-graecum

OTHER NAMES: methi, kasuri methi

FORMS: fresh and dried leaves

Fenugreek is an annual in the bean family. (For information about fenugreek seeds, see here.) The dried leaves have a grassy, nutty aroma. Look for intensely green dried leaves when buying fenugreek; a paler green is an indication of age, and the herb will have less flavor. (Be sure to store dried fenugreek in a dark place so it won’t be bleached by light.) In India, the word for fenugreek is methi; the term kasuri methi is used specifically for the dried leaves. In Indian cooking, fenugreek is used both fresh, like spinach, and dried; it also figures in Pakistani, Iranian, and other Middle Eastern cuisines. It goes particularly well with potatoes and root vegetables. It is also mixed into doughs to make paratha in India and naan or other flatbreads in the Middle East. Fenugreek can be added to curries made with meat as they simmer or crumbled and sprinkled over meat-based curries or vegetable dishes for a final seasoning. It is often also added to lentil dishes throughout the Indian subcontinent.

FENUGREEK SEEDS

BOTANICAL NAME: Trigonella foenum-graecum

OTHER NAMES: bird’s foot, cow’s horn, goat’s horn, methi

FORMS: whole seeds, crushed, and ground

The origins of fenugreek are not entirely clear, with various sources asserting that it is native to southern Europe, India, western Asia, and/or the eastern Mediterranean, but it is certain that it has been used for medicinal and culinary purposes since antiquity. A tall annual plant, it has been grown all around the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. Major sources today include Turkey, the Baltic region, South America, France, and Pakistan, as well as India.

Fenugreek gets many of its popular names from the shape of the seedpods, which are 4 to 6 inches long, narrow, and beaked. Fenugreek is a member of the legume family, and the pods look like those of green beans (in Africa, the seeds are soaked and prepared like other legumes). Each pod contains ten to twenty small seeds. The seeds are yellowish-brown and roughly octagonal in shape, with a furrow running down one side, and they are so hard they might almost be mistaken for a handful of little pebbles. They have a pungent aroma, somewhat similar to that of celery seeds, and an astringent, bitter flavor. Actually, they smell like curry powder—or, to be more accurate, many curry powders smell like fenugreek. The seeds should be toasted before crushing or grinding, both to mellow their bitterness and to make it easier to grind them; be careful not to overtoast them, though, or they may become more bitter. Toasting also brings out some of the natural sugars in the seeds, giving them a slight aroma of maple syrup (fenugreek is used commercially to make artificial maple syrup). Use a spice grinder, not a mortar and pestle, to grind the hard seeds to the desired consistency. Ground fenugreek is orange-brown and very aromatic.

Fenugreek is used widely in Indian cooking, most commonly in curries, dals, and poultry and vegetable dishes. It is an important ingredient in various vegetarian preparations, as well as in breads and savory pastries, pickles, and chutneys. It also figures in certain Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, and in Egypt and Ethiopia, it is used to season flatbreads. Fenugreek is an essential ingredient in many curry and sambar powders, in the Ethiopian spice blend berbere, and in Bengal’s panch phoron.

MEDICINAL USES: Fenugreek is known as a digestive and has a host of traditional medical uses. Some believe it lowers blood sugar and that it may be helpful in treating diabetes. It is also credited with increasing the flow of breast milk in nursing mothers, but it should never be taken medicinally by pregnant women (in the pharmaceutical industry, an ingredient in fenugreek seeds is used in the manufacture of oral contraceptives).

FILÉ POWDER

BOTANICAL NAME: Sassafras officinalis

OTHER NAMES: gumbo filé, gumbo filé powder

Filé powder is ground dried sassafras leaves. It is used to thicken and flavor classic Creole gumbo, the hearty soup/stew that is one of the signature dishes of Louisiana and popular in other parts of the South as well. The sassafras tree, which can grow to almost 100 feet tall, is native to the Gulf of Mexico. The Choctaw Indians of Louisiana were the first to use dried sassafras leaves as a thickener. Only the smaller leaves are used for filé powder; they are dried and then finely ground. Filé powder is added to gumbos at the end of cooking, off the heat—if boiled, it will become stringy. (Some cooks and chefs prefer to add a sprinkling of filé to each serving or to offer the powder at the table.) Filé powder can also be used to thicken other Creole or Cajun soups or stews. Store it in a tightly sealed container, as it can absorb moisture easily. Do not confuse sassafras powder, which is made from the bark and/or roots of the tree, with gumbo filé.

FINES HERBES

Fines herbes is a classic French dried herb blend consisting of chervil, chives, parsley, and tarragon; other herbs such as dill, marjoram, and/or lovage are sometimes included. (Various combinations of the same fresh herbs are also used in French cooking.) The mix goes well with egg dishes (there’s an omelette aux fines herbes on every traditional bistro menu) and with poached chicken and fish. It is best added just before finishing a dish so as not to mute the flavors of these delicate herbs. Fines herbes can also be used to flavor creamy dressings or lighter sauces.