Fennel

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Fennel sometimes also called pharmaceutical dill. Common fennel is an annual plant, although perennial varieties exist. It is customary to treat tummy disorders in babies with fennel, but this does not exhaust its beneficial properties.

Culture characteristics

Fennel has a straight, hollow stem, which is shaped like a cylinder, and its height is about ten to fifteen centimeters. Below the plant, the stem is naked and single, and then it becomes branching. The leaves of this culture are multiparticulate and grow on petioles. The flowers are very small in size and painted in yellow tones, the leaves are collected in umbellate inflorescences at the very tops of the stem. The flowering of the plant occurs at the very beginning and middle of the summer season, the fruits look like two-seedlings, consisting of semi-fruits, and their ripening occurs in August-September. The plant has a very characteristic spicy scent that can resemble the smell of anise. Fennel fruit has a sweetish taste.

In the wild, this culture can be found in areas where there is a warm and temperate climate. The plant first appeared in India, but now fennel grows in the Caucasus, the Urals and Central Asia. Stony dry soils and intense sunlight are preferred for fennel. Fennel can be found right along the roads. In the summer cottages of the Krasnodar Territory, Ukraine and Belarus, this crop is also often grown.

The healing properties of fennel

Traditional and official medicine widely uses fennel. Fennel fruits are rich in essential oils, protein compounds, sugar and fatty oils. Fennel oil contains a large amount of useful substances, such as: anethole, fenchol, anise ketone, anisic acid, anise aldehyde, limonene, dipentene. Due to the presence of such beneficial elements, fennel is used as a carminative.

Fennel is also used for respiratory diseases, as well as for the beneficial course of lactation during breastfeeding. Fennel is good both in pure form and as one of the ingredients of various medicinal preparations: sedatives, choleretic, breast and many others.

Medicines from fennel are prepared on the basis of its fruits. The fruits are harvested towards the end of the summer season, the umbrellas with the fruits should be tied together and then hung in the shade. The storage of such fruits can last for two years. A variety of infusions can be prepared from the fruits, as well as oil can be squeezed out.

Recipes

You can prepare an infusion of fennel as follows: take two teaspoons of chopped and dried fruits, and then pour 200 milliliters of boiling water. This mixture should be infused for at least ten minutes, and then this mixture is filtered, after which it must be cooled. As a carminative, the resulting infusion is recommended to be applied at 50-100 milliliters two to three times a day before meals.

For the treatment of respiratory diseases, a much less concentrated infusion is suitable, which is prepared in the same way, only half a liter of boiling water should be taken for one tablespoon of the fruit.

As a carminative, you can also use a similar drug, which consists of several ingredients: fennel, peppermint and valerian. All these elements are taken in equal proportions, then one tablespoon of such a mixture is poured with half a liter of boiling water. After that, it is necessary to let the resulting infusion brew for an hour in a thermos. This drug should be taken in small amounts before meals.

It will be problematic to prepare fennel oils on your own, especially since such treatment should be prescribed by a doctor. This oil is recommended for bloating and flatulence.