How Does This Ayurvedic Food Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Pick a random Indian restaurant in the United States, and you are more than likely to be greeted by a little bowl of bright green roasted fennel seeds, placed near the entrance door. You can toss a few in your mouth and chew on them as you scan the menu and place your order. As you wait for the food to arrive, these little seeds do their magic: perking up the palate, stimulating hunger, priming the digestive system. Enjoy the food at leisure, savoring each bite with awareness and relish. On your way out, feel free to help yourself to a few more seeds. Skip the breath mints tonight; fennel seeds function as excellent mouth fresheners and what's more, they aid the digestive process as well.

Digestive & Mouth Freshener

Sweet and stimulating, fennel possesses a unique combination of warming and cooling qualities that stimulate the appetite before meals and facilitate digestion afterward. Ate a little too much and feel bloated? Was the food a tad too spicy? Fennel relieves gas and bloating; it also functions to reduce burping, acid reflux, and alleviate nausea and indigestion. Fennel improves the digestive agni by stimulating blood flow to the stomach.

For Babies

Babies can experience relief from colic pains by drinking fennel water with sodium bicarbonate and glycerine. Fennel is estrogenic in nature, so it increases growth of breast tissue. It also has diaphoretic properties that increase the flow of milk in lactating mothers.

A Rare Cooling Spice

Although many spices are heating, fennel is tempered by a cool quality the calms the mind and increases clarity. As a diuretic it relieves Pitta, flushing and soothing burning sensations in the urinary tract and detoxifying the blood. Fennel has been shown to protect the liver of experimental animals from chemical toxicity.

Relieving Spasms

Fennel, like many aromatic herbs, is effective in relaxing smooth muscle spasms. It specifically relieves bronchial spasms in the lungs, colic in the GI tract and uterine cramping, thereby helping with diverse conditions from asthma to menstrual cramps. Fennel's aromatic quality also relaxes blood vessels and opens circulation, reducing swelling and pain. Its circulatory stimulating qualities are effective in countering rheumatism.

Other Uses

Many lung formulas utilize fennel to clear phlegm and relieve cough. Ancient Romans regarded fennel as the herb of sight and rightly so, for root extracts of fennel have been used to clear cloudiness of the eyes and cure glaucoma.

In Chinese medicine, fennel has the properties of soothing liver Qi, warming the kidney, expelling cold and alleviating pain. It specifically regulates & harmonizes stomach Qi. Like licorice and cardamom, it may be used to help harmonize other formulas. Western herbalists use fennel for its anti-cancer properties.

Recipes with Fennel Seeds: Sour Tamarind Chutney

About Fennel Seeds

Cool and soothing, verdant and fragrant, fennel is a member of the carrot family that includes other popular spices such as cumin, coriander, dill and celery. Fennel is used as a flavoring in some natural toothpastes and mouth fresheners. Fennel seeds may be confused with those of anise; however anise seeds are smaller in size. Cuisines of India, Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East feature fennel seeds prominently. In many parts of India and Pakistan, roasted fennel seeds are consumed as after-meal digestive and breath freshener. India leads worldwide in production of fennel.

Buying & Preparation

Fennel fronds are delicate in flavor and resemble dill. Fresh fennel seeds are brown/green in color but as they age, the color changes to a dull grey. Store fennel seeds in the refrigerator to retain their freshness for a longer period.

Recipes with Fennel Seeds: Kale with Coconut & Fennel

Cooking Fennel Seeds

Be it a warming cup of tea or a piquant 5-spice mix, a simple salad with crisp cabbage shreds and matchstick carrots or an elaborate curry preparation with butternut squash, peppers and coconut, fennel seeds add their own little fragrant punch, distinctive and bright in flavor. Fennel fronds cook up in minutes and can be added to lentils, leafy greens, summer slaws, lettuce and arugula salads, etc. In Syria and Lebanon, fennel is used in combination with flour and onions to prepare a special kind of omelette. Many sausage and pickle recipes employ fennel as a flavoring ingredient. The fennel bulb is often sliced thin and eaten braised, marinated or even raw. Fennel sugar candies provide the perfect sweet ending to a meal, popular with adults and children alike.Browse Recipes