Oil Spotlight - Fennel
Fennel essential oil is well-known for its digestive benefits and has been used for centuries to promote healthy digestion. This sweet-smelling oil offers other benefits as well, including metabolic, immune, circulatory, and respiratory support. This powerful essential oil is distilled from the seed part of the plant. Used for centuries in a variety of applications, fennel seed is known for its distinct licorice flavor and aroma. Fennel essential oil provides modern households with a huge variety of uses; try it in the kitchen, in aromatherapy, and topically. This unique essential oil has beneficial characteristics for the skin while providing the user with a sweet, distinctive scent.
Plant Description
Fennel is an evergreen perennial native to the Mediterranean, though it is now typically grown in herb and vegetable gardens across the globe. Known for its licorice flavor and aroma, fennel produces flowers, fragrant leaves, and most importantly, fennel seeds. Fennel essential oil is steam distilled from these seeds.
What Does Fennel Oil Smell Like?
The aroma of Fennel is peculiarly sweet like honey. The scent and taste are commonly compared to that of licorice. This natural sweetness can be useful for avoiding unhealthy sweets and sugar. Adding a drop or two to a glass of water or healthy juice can actually help to curb cravings. You can also smell it in two of doTERRA’s proprietary blends. It is contained in ClaryCalm® monthly blend for women, as well as DigestZen® digestive blend.
What Is Fennel Essential Oil Used For?
Fennel essential oil is known for its ability to help digestion, due to its chemical constituent anethole, which offers digestive support. Taken internally, Fennel assists the overall health of the digestive tract. Although it is most recognized for its digestive benefits, Fennel has powerful effects on the whole body. Experimental studies suggest that the chemical constituents alpha-pinene and anethole in Fennel essential oil may help maintain a healthy immune response when taken internally. It supports healthy cellular function and overall cellular health when taken internally. It may also aid metabolic, respiratory, and circulatory functions.
Usage Tips
After overindulging at dinner, take a couple of drops in a veggie capsule, water, or under the tongue for digestive support.
The herbaceous, sweet aroma of Fennel essential oil makes it a great companion in a soothing abdominal massage. After a filling meal, apply 1-2 drops with 10 drops of Fractionated Coconut Oil, topically to the stomach, and massage in a circular motion.
Put a drop in water or tea to help fight sweet tooth cravings.
Consider adding a toothpick’s amount to your cooking for its strong, savory anise flavor, while simultaneously taking advantage of the various internal wellness benefits.
Take internally to help ease occasional bloating, stomach upset, or feelings of sluggishness.
Stimulating, herbaceous flavor ideal for soups, salads, and seasoning for savory recipes
Substitute Fennel oil for Fennel seeds in a cooking recipe for a more flavourful meal
Take advantage of the energizing aroma of Fennel essential oil by diffusing 3-4 drops in your home or office space to create the perfect environment for a productive day.
Applied topically, Fennel essential oil can be calming and soothing to the skin. Whenever applying to the skin, dilute 1 drop of Fennel oil with 5-10 drops of Fractionated Coconut Oil to avoid skin sensitivity.
Kitchen Flavours: One of the most common uses for Fennel essential oil is in the kitchen. Give a sweet or savory flavor to any dish by adding 1-2 drops of Fennel essential oil. We recommend adding Fennel essential oil to homemade sausage, sauces, dressings, and dips, meats, soups, or any dish that calls for a subtle or distinct anise flavor. Fennel essential oil has a potent flavor, so start small (we suggest starting with a toothpick) and adjust to taste.
Sweet Tea: The naturally sweet flavor of Fennel essential oil is perfect to satisfy a sweet tooth when trying to avoid processed sugar and sweets. In fact, a major constituent in the chemical makeup of Fennel is trans anethole, a monoterpene that is thirteen times sweeter than table sugar. Add 1 drop of Fennel essential oil to water, tea, or green juice for a sweet, delicious flavor when those sugar cravings hit!
Diffuse It! Although it may not be the first oil that you think of to add to your diffuser, there are so many fun recipes to try with Fennel!
Oils That Blend Well with Fennel Oil
The aroma of Fennel pairs well with other savory cooking spices and herb essential oils like Cinnamon, Clove, Basil, Thyme, and Rosemary. You can also use Fennel essential oil to bring out the bright, sweet notes of citrus essential oils like Lime, Wild Orange, and Ginger.
Fun Facts
Native to the Mediterranean, fennel has been used since antiquity. Roman warriors were said to have used fennel to strengthen their readiness for battle, and several Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures have long used it in their cuisine. The plant is a perennial herb and can grow to nearly eight feet high. It has small, yellow flowers and delicate, feathery, fragrant leaves, but the essential oil, potent and distinct, is extracted from the seeds.
Cautions
Possible skin sensitivity. Keep out of reach of children. If you are pregnant, nursing, or under a doctor’s care, consult your physician. Avoid contact with eyes, inner ears, and sensitive areas.
A little more history about Fennel
Fennel is known by more than 100 different names and has been held in high esteem throughout history. In fact, a traditional Welsh saying disparages anyone who would pass by fennel without picking it up. It says, “He who sees fennel and gathers it not, is not a man, but a devil.”
In Greek, the name for fennel is marathon or marathos. And fennel is actually associated with the origin of the marathon. The ancient Athenian Pheidippides carried a fennel stalk on his 150-mile, two-day run to Sparta to gather soldiers for the battle of Marathon with Persia in 490 BC. The place of the famous battle of Marathon literally means a plain with fennel and after the battle the Athenians used woven fennel stalks as a symbol of victory.
Greek warriors also believed that drinking fennel tea before the battle would give them courage. But the significance of Fennel in Greek culture goes back even further than the battle of Marathon or Greek soldiers.
Fennel in the Myth of Prometheus
In Hesiod's poem “Theogony” (meaning the genealogy or birth of the gods) he tells the story of Prometheus stealing the ember of fire from the gods.
In Greek mythology, Zeus assigned Prometheus the task of forming man from water and earth, which Prometheus did, but in the process, he became fonder of men than Zeus had ever anticipated. Zeus didn't share Prometheus' feelings and wanted to prevent men from having power, especially over fire. Prometheus cared more for man than for the wrath of Zeus, so he stole fire from Zeus' lightning. Prometheus concealed the fire in a hollow stalk of fennel and brought it to man.
Fennel in Ancient Rome
Roman gladiators had some similar traditions surrounding fennel. They mixed fennel with their food in order to be successful in the arena and if a gladiator won, he was crowned with a fennel garland. Also, Roman accounts state that snakes were fond of fennel, and when consumed it allowed them to be restored to their youth and thus were able to cast off their old skin.
Fennel in Antiquity and the Middle-Ages
In antiquity and up to the middle-ages fennel seeds were considered, like garlic, a deterrent of evil spirits; people draped little sacks with sprigs and seeds over their doors and stuffed their keyholes with fennel seeds in order to block out ghosts and malevolent apparitions.
Fennel also made an appearance in many ancient wellness practices. It was one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century. The charm is intended to help with the preparation of nine herbs. The numbers nine and three, significant in Germanic paganism and later Germanic folklore, are mentioned frequently within the charm. Further, the charm directs the reader to sing the charm three times over each of the herbs before they are prepared.
The Anglo-Saxons also held the herb as sacred, and Charlemagne, the great emperor, declared in 812 AD that fennel was essential in every garden because of its beneficial properties. He required the cultivation of fennel on all imperial farms.
Additionally, during Shakespeare’s time fennel also had large cultural relevance. It served as an emblem of flattery and Italians of the era would say Dare Finocchio, “to give fennel” or “to flatter.”
Fennel in the Middle East and Asia
Many cultures in India, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Middle East use fennel fruits in cooking. It’s an essential ingredient in many spice mixtures, including the Chinese five-spice powders. In many parts of India, roasted fennel fruits are consumed as an after-meal digestive and breath freshener. Fennel water has also been utilized in many cultures. It has properties similar to those of anise and dill water.
From Greek mythology to fennel tea, fennel has played a part in innumerable areas of history. This workhorse herb has impacted the lives of people all around the world and we hope that you have a chance to feel the impact in your home as well.
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More Recipes to try with Fennel
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