The finishing touch that actually changes the dish.

California Fennel Pollen

Name: California Fennel Pollen
Brand: Frantoio Grove
SKU: FG-CFP-JR
Price: 14.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Price

$14.00

Description

Organically harvested in California, fennel pollen has the familiar anise character of fennel seed, but with floral, citrus and honey notes and remarkable intensity.

A pinch over vegetables, pasta, grains or a finished dish goes a remarkably long way.

11 grams / 0.39 oz

Why This One

This is organic fennel pollen from California, collected from fennel as it flowers around peak bloom.

Fennel pollen was a relatively new ingredient in our own kitchen, which is part of why we wanted to carry it. It’s one of those ingredients that immediately makes you curious: you taste it, start wondering what else it would work on, and pretty quickly find yourself reaching for it again.

That’s exactly the kind of ingredient we like sharing.

Tasting Notes

Fennel pollen is unusually good at being several things at once: savory but floral, delicate but intense, distinctive without becoming overpowering.

Its effect is as much aroma as flavor. Sprinkle it over something warm and it blooms across the back of the palate: warm, floral, savory and lightly spicy, with a fresh anise and licorice character that becomes especially apparent as you breathe in and out.

It tastes unmistakably of fennel, but not in the blunt way fennel seed sometimes can. It’s lighter, more aromatic and considerably more delicate.

Ingredients

100% California fennel pollen.

How to Use

This is the spontaneous one.

Fennel seed is tough enough that it generally benefits from grinding, cooking or blooming in fat. Fennel pollen can simply be sprinkled over a dish at the end. Keep it near the stove and reach for it when something tastes good but feels like it could use one more dimension.

Roasted or grilled vegetables are an easy place to begin. A pan of deeply caramelized carrots is already sweet, rich and satisfying; fennel pollen adds the aromatic layer that can take it from the vegetable on the side to something you actually want to talk about.

Try it over roasted carrots, potatoes, beans, creamy cheeses, eggs, pasta or anything else that could use a warm, savory, floral finish.

Recipe Ideas

Roasted Carrots with Fennel Pollen