Fennel enhances both sweet and savoury foods with its mild aniseed character. The spice is most notable as a flavouring for Italian salami, and for its use in masala blends throughout South Asia, from Kashmir to Sri Lanka.
The main sweet aniseed flavour of fennel comes from powerful anethole, while penetrating fenchone contributes bitter pungency, and small amounts of citrusy limonene and pine-scented pinene are also present.
