# Fennel Pollen



## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

This is a very new product, I am getting 1 once into work on monday. $35 an once,incredibly potiant.As I have read the wild fennel is allowed to flower and then picked and hung upside down with a paper bag wrapped over the flower. Once a day someone taps the bag to release the pollen and it collects in the bag. It is supposed to be very powerful in flavor,so a little goes a long way. I have only had it once,Last year at Babo in Manhattan Mario Batoli did a pasta dish with fennel pollen...very intense.
I am thinking about using it to cure salmon,Ala Gravlox. If it works the way I think it might, It could be quite a nice dish
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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I know they sell pollen in health food store but didn't know you could use it as a seasoning. I'll be curious to hear how it turns out.


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## cookm (Aug 8, 2000)

I'm curious what else was in the pasta dish, and about how much of the pollen did they use? I've never heard of this; I'll have to ask some Chez Panisse people if they've used fennel pollen before also.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Cook M, It was a herb ravioli with simply brown butter with the pollen, I talked to the farmers yesterday in detail about it's uses, It is very strong and a little goes a long way. I will let you know how it turns out
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## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

C.C.

Very interesting, I am always open to new products like this. What are the benefits/claim of this product?

D.Lee


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## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

C.C.

Very interesting, I am always open to new products like this. What are the benefits/claim of this product? Is it a intense fennel flavor? Have you tasted it? So many questions...

D.Lee


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Dlee, You get an intense fennel (anise) flavor.Very pure.It's like having the pure essence of the flavor in powdered form. It's kind of brown in color but does not bleed the color into the food,and as far as mouth feel (Or texture)You do not feel it, not grainy. I love fennel bulb and use it almost everyday in one or another,and this is not to replace the flavor or texture or eye appeal of fennel,but only a new and I think exciting addition of what some of the farmers with Imagination can do. I will let you know how it goes as I use it
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## chef david simpson (Sep 25, 2000)

What's your source cc? I had a soup w/ fennel pollen and it really good. I never really thought of encorparating it in my staples.

[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited 01-13-2001).]


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

David, I get it through Sid Wainer out of Fall River Mass. At this time they have made arrangements with nokoma farms to be the sole US distributor. At 35 once once I don't know if it will become a staple, But I am looking forward to using it for special occasions when warranted. I will give you the # tomorrow
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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

HMMMM I just happen to know a few farmers. If you could find out the variety of fennel and how they get it to not rot as it hangs...
very interesting.


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## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

CC, 

I do a tomato fennel broth for pasta and chicken. I would also like a contact number for this product. Is it expensive?

D.Lee


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## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

CC, 

I do a tomato fennel broth for pasta and chicken dishes. I would also like a contact number for this product. Is it expensive?

D.Lee


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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

sisi,

I don't think this is anything like the bee pollen they sell in health food stores. That stuff tastes pretty bad. I'm not sure how it's harvested, but it's used more for its health benefits than its flavor. I can't wait to hear how this fennel pollen works out.


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## m brown (May 29, 1999)

fennel pollen sorbet, fennel pollen zabaglione, fennel pollen honey tuiles.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

How about oyster and brie soup garished with a fried oyster seasoned with fennel pollon?
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## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

That sounds great!


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Any recommendations for substitutes for fennel pollen?


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## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

cchiu,

I have not tried fennel pollen yet but substitutes might be something like; fennel bulbs that are sauted then deglazed and the liquid reduced. or Pernod.

D.Lee


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

If fennel pollen is so good, why not use pollen from other vegetables?

[This message has been edited by Sisi (edited 01-17-2001).]


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

HMMMMM~ I'm having a chef/farmer/seed catalog meeting Mon night, I'll ask the guys about various pollens. They'll think I'm really nuts.


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## catciao (Jan 23, 2002)

Hi everyone,

I just returned from a week of cooking in Italy with some great Tuscan chefs and for the first time have been turned on to Fennel Pollen. In fact, after having a personal tour of the market in Florence I brought home a 2 oz. vacuumed sealed bag of this heavenly golden-green dust. I have made the traditional roasted pork loin where I prepared garlic, rosemary, fresh sage, salt and fennel pollen in a mezzulina and used this as a rub for the loin. I cut into the loin to added more before tying it together as one of the chefs taught me. The butcher in the market prepares this mixture daily and keeps a huge jar of it behind the counter. I now make a batch weekly and keep it in my fridge for sprinkling or rubbing on just about anything. I have searched the net for recipes for fennel pollen and most are dated as old as this thread but I've just noticed some menus including fennel pollen recently. Could it be that fennel is just beginning to seed and farmers are just beginning to collect this treasure? Is it seasonal? My request is this: would you please contribute any new recipes where you have used fennel pollen over the last two years? :lips: Thanks.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Catciao,

Sounds like you had a great time in Italy.

http://cheftalk.com/content/display....4&type=article

This is a article wriiten a while back from Helene Brody


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## aaronproot (Jun 24, 2005)

Sorry to drag this old thread back from the dead, but I live in San Francisco and we are overrun with wild fennel plants, so I am trying out the paper bag thing myself to see how much pollen I can harvest.

I can tell you this-- several bags of wild fennel blossoms are one of the most powerful smells I have ever encountered.


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## redace1960 (Apr 1, 2005)

fennel grows wild in oregon, to about five feet tall! i remember we kids used to pick big wands of it and whap each other. i can recall the pollen flying out of the umbels in big clouds....you'd smell like licorice all day.


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## aaronproot (Jun 24, 2005)

The yields you get from these plants is remarkably low. I probably won't be able to fill a small spice jar this summer.


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I just tasted it for the first time last Sunday at Alinea. It was quite intense, and I'll watch for it on menus in the future. Mmmm....


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## chefmarco (Jun 26, 2005)

thats in my part of town i work in new bedford 
and have used Sid Wainer before and find them expensive


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## 100folds (Apr 9, 2005)

I went and got me some fennel, hung it upside down in a paper bag and have collected the pollen which I have to say is amazing. I've made a fennel creme brulee with pistachio icecream and loved it. Used it in two fish sauces that were burre blanc based. 
But it got me thinking, why not other herbs.
So right now I have sage, dill, thyme and linton flowers hanging in various places. I mean this could be a new thing. I wonder though if the fresh stuff is better than the bought stuff. My fennel pollen was sweet wuth a strong fennel flavor, how was the bought stuff?
Is there history, besides saffron, of people using pollen for culinary uses? I'll research it but if anyone knows, let me know. Thanks


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## redace1960 (Apr 1, 2005)

ok, heres an off the wall thought........i wonder could you give a severly allergic person an attack of anaphylaxis using pollens? or does cooking somehow neutralize them? enquiring allergic minds want to know!


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## 100folds (Apr 9, 2005)

We could always do a test subject. Anyone want to be a guine pig?  No seriously, that's a really good question and I suppose when you write your menu you have to make it clear that you are using pollen. I would think that it still reacts to the person, depending on what it is in the pollen that they are actually allegic to. Molecules are made of different elements, right. Its the compund molecules that they are allergic to. If cooking them breaks them down so that they are no longer those same compound molecules than you are safe but I would say, because of the flavor it gives off, which is quite strong, those same compound molecules are still intact but with just a couple new molecules attached to them. Really good question Red.


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## redace1960 (Apr 1, 2005)

thx-saw a person go down behind shellfish one time....really scary!
seems to me i've had a dipping spice made with corn pollen. i remember it being very deep, almost a butter-roasty flavor. no reaction yet!


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