Fennel Pollen

Description

Culinary critic Peggy Knickerbocker once waxed poetic in Saveur magazine that "if angels sprinkled a spice from their wings, this would be it." Delicious licorice and citrus notes.

Uses

Sprinkle our fennel pollen, mixed with a pinch of salt and black pepper, over chicken or a pork tenderloin. Its delicious licorice notes elevate the flavour of roasted potatoes and carrots. It is the perfect ingredients for gravlax and adds a lovely finishing touch to cream soups.

Distinctives attributes

Fennel pollen is a popular ingredient in Tuscany, where it is nicknamed "the spice of angels". Just before female wild fennel plants bloom, the tiny seeds are harvested from their capitulum. Each plant yields only about a teaspoon, which explains this spice's steep price.

Artisan

The De Laurentiis family owns an artisanal business in the Abruzzo mountain region. For two generations, it has been drawing on traditional ingredients and know-how to offer products with an authentically Italian taste. The family grows organic tomatoes, fennel pollen and other seasonings on its own plots of land, and turns them into sauces and condiments thanks to a veritable regiment of cooks who busily tend the ovens.

Origin

Roccascalegna, Abruzzo, Italy.

History and anecdotes

Culinary critic Peggy Knickerbocker once waxed poetic in Saveur magazine that "if angels sprinkled a spice from their wings, this would be it."

Ingredients

Organic fennel pollen from the Arno Valley in Tuscany.