Fennel. You just need to paint some eyes and eyebrows on the bulbs and they look like Beaker from the Muppets. |
Fennel tops!
I'm a simple girl, I only learned about fennel when it was on Masterchef and whilst I have sampled fennel cheesecake, a good old fennel bulb is something I consider more appropriate in a still-life (don't they look like a heart?) than the kitchen.
I asked where she gets them and she replied:
They generally sell just the fennel bulbs for human salads at the shops so I bought a plant at Bunnings years ago. It went to seed even with daily picking and its seedlings are now available almost year round here in SE Queensland climate. Oxbow’s original Critical Care is aniseed flavour because that is very popular with pigs. Then I read somewhere that fennel is an aniseed (liquorice) flavour and thought I’d give it a go. Well, the little ones here have definitely approved. You’ll have to let me know if your little neophobes agree!
Turns out I have been depriving them! They took to the fennel leaves like ducks to water.