Herb Of The Week -Fennel - Bitterroot Valley MT's Growing & Oil Experiment

[Guest guest]

Just an interesting little article about a fennel growing and oil

production experiment done in Montana.

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

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Sweet Fennel

http://ag.montana.edu/warc/sweet_fennel.htm

 

Nancy W. Callan, Mal P. Westcott, Susan Wall-MacLane, and James B.

Miller

 

Western Agricultural Research Center

 

 

Montana State University

 

 

 

 

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is a perennial herb that is native

to the Mediterranean and southern Europe. While it is cultivated as a

perennial in warmer climates, it must be grown as an annual in Montana.

Two kinds of fennel are available: the finocchio or Florence fennel

forms thickened leaf bases and is used as a vegetable. The leaf and seed

type does not form thickened leaf bases, and may be classified as bitter

(var. vulgare) or sweet (var. dulce) (3). Fennel seed is used as a

flavoring for foods and beverages, and the essential oil from the seed

and plant has flavoring, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical uses.

 

Fennel oil may be used directly as a flavoring or given further

treatment to produce anethole for the beverage industry. China and

Vietnam are major producers of anethole from another plant, the star

anise, and are supplying a large proportion of the demand.

 

Fennel may be grown by direct seeding or from transplants, but a

long growing season is required to mature the seeds. Flowering is

initiated when day length reaches 13.5 hours. Our 1998 harvest date of

October 5 was after the Bitterroot Valley's normal mid-September first

frost date. Seed maturity was achieved in 1998, but in the normal

growing season of 1999, fennel was harvested when seeds were immature

and the entire plant distilled.

 

Oil may be steam-distilled from the seeds or from the flowering top.

Direct heading may be done to harvest mainly the oil-rich seed heads. At

the WARC, mature fennel plant tops or crushed seeds were distilled after

air drying in 1998, and plant tops with immature seeds were distilled

without drying in 1999.

 

 

 

 

Western Agricultural Research Center

 

1998: Fennel was direct-seeded in the field on May 15, 1998, at 6

lb/acre. Six-row plots were 8 ft long with rows 18 " apart, with four

replications. Plant stand was 15 plants per foot. The top 6-8 " of the

plants were harvested on October 2, 1998. Outer rows were harvested

separately. Plant material was air-dried before distillation. The plant

material was treated in two ways: 1) the plant tops distilled intact, or

2) the seeds were threshed and crushed before distillation.

 

1999: Fennel was direct-seeded on May 5, 1999, at 3 lb/acre. Eight-row

plots were 15 ft long with rows 1 ft apart and four replications. Plant

stand was 8 plants per foot. The top 6-8 " of the plants was harvested on

September 22, 1999. Border rows were not included. The plant material

was distilled without drying.

 

 

 

 

Table 1. Fennel yield at the Western Agricultural Research Center,

Corvallis, MT

 

 

Plant Part Distilled

 

Dry weight (lb/a)

 

Oil (lb/a)

 

 

1998

 

 

Entire top (distill dry)

 

3,258

 

22.1

 

 

Crushed seeds

 

39.5

 

 

1999

 

 

Entire top (distill fresh)

 

4,128

 

37.2

 

 

 

 

Table 2. Fennel oil composition at the Western Agricultural Research

Center, Corvallis, MT

 

 

Plant Part Distilled

 

Anethole (%)

 

Limonene (%)

 

Fenchone (%)

 

 

1998

 

 

Entire top (distill dry)

 

55.8

 

34.4

 

0.9

 

 

Crushed seeds

 

60.4

 

28.8

 

1.7

 

 

1999

 

 

Entire top (distill fresh)

 

66.8

 

22.2

 

2.1

 

 

 

 

Discussion

 

 

Fennel can be grown in the Bitterroot Valley's short growing season

if the plants are harvested with immature seeds and distilled without

drying. The seeding rate was reduced from 6 to 3 lb/a in 1999, and the

lower rate resulted in a similar biomass with a lower plant stand.

 

Oil production from the plant tops was acceptable, as aboveground

parts normally contain 1-1.5% oil (3). The anethole content of the herb

oil exceeded the standard of 50-60% (2). Conversely, fenchone was less

than 5%, above which the oil has a bitter flavor (1). Limonene levels

were high in both years of the study, but sweet fennel oil can contain

as much as 30% limonene. The market for fennel oil is limited because of

the prevalence of alternative sources of anethole, and because wild

fennel is harvested for oil in many parts of the world.

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

 

Seed was provided by Johnny's Selected <http://www.johnnyseeds.com/>

Seeds, Albion, ME.

 

Oil analysis was performed by Essex Labs, P. O. Box 3368, Salem, Oregon

97032-0368.

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Information about Fennel

 

 

Books and Publications:

 

 

1. Bernath, J., Nemeth, E., Kataa, A., and Hethelyi, E. 1996.

Morphological and chemical evaluation of fennel (Foeniculum vulagare

Mill.) populations of different origin. J. Essent. Oil Res., 8:247-253.

 

2. Guenther, E. 1948. Oil of Fennel. The Essential Oils. Robert E.

Krieger Pub. Co., Inc.

 

3. Hornok, L. 1992. Cultivation and processing of medicinal plants.

John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

Web Pages:

 

 

4. Peterson, L. 1998. Fennel Oil. The New Rural Industries. A Handbook

for Farmers and Investors. Rural Industries Research & Development

Corporation.

 

5. Simon, J., A. Chadwick and L. Craker. 1984. Herbs: An Indexed

Bibliography. 1971-1980. The Scientific Literature on Selected Herbs,

and Aromatic and Medicinal Plants of the Temperate Zone. Archon Books,

770 pp., Hamden, CT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, " Christine Ziegler "

<chrisziggy@e...> wrote:

>

> Just an interesting little article about a fennel growing and oil

> production experiment done in Montana.

>

> *Smile*

> Chris (list mom)

>

Thanks for the great information Chris! I grow fennel vulgare, but I

do not know whether it is the sweet or the bitter! I do know that the

under-ripe seeds taste sweet. I do know that it smells amazing in my

garden and my seed heads are only now starting to ripen (I live in MI,

weather has been in 40's to 50's lately). I absolutely love this

beautiful plant and couldn't imagine my garden without it! It is a

great draw for the moths and butterflies as well. If you love the

flavor of anise, you haven't lived until you've tasted the burst of

sweet anise flavor in an under-ripe fennel seed-amazing! And for those

who love to cook, there is nothing like baking a chicken (stuff a big

handful of leaves right into the cavity with a sliced onion and a few

smashed garlic cloves and squeeze fresh lemon juice over the top, salt

and pepper-chicken heaven!) or some nice whitefish (put a big handful

of leaves on parchment paper, put fish on top, salt and pepper and

garlic and splash with a nice, dry white wine, seal parchment and bake-

knock your socks off flavor-serve over a bed of brown rice to sop up

the fish juices!) Okay, I hope everyone on this list now wants to grow

their own fennel! Warm regards and continue to be,

 

Lori

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Those recipes got me! I will definitely plant fennel next year.

Thanks!

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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I can finish my own sentences again!

muddled

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[Guest guest]

, " Ieneke van Houten "

<ienvan@t...> wrote:

>

> Those recipes got me! I will definitely plant fennel next year.

> Thanks!

>

> Ien in the Kootenays

 

You are most welcome! I can't wait for my seeds to fully ripen. I

am also going to try to grow the " bulb " type of fennel next year. I

just love using fresh herbs in my cooking and miss them during the

winter. My dream is to someday have a greenhouse so that I can grow

fresh herbs and tomatoes all year long. Warm regards and continue to

be,

 

Lori