Hands up who's heard of fennel. Good, that's almost all of you.
Now, how many of you actually know how to use it? Anybody? Hmm?
Detention for the lot of you. Fennel may have enjoyed a renaissance on restaurant menus over the past decade, but relatively few people would know what to do with it if it started sprouting spontaneously in their airing cupboards.
Perhaps that's because it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what fennel is. Some use its leaves as an herb, while others exploit its seeds like a spice. And then there are those who treat its bulblike stem as a vegetable.
Technically, it's an umbelliferous herb - an aromatic plant that's related to cumin, coriander, parsley and celery. But what's more obvious is its likeness to star anise in terms of flavour and fragrance.
The distinctive liquorice-style qualities of fennel originate from an aromatic compound called anethole, which is also present in anise and star anise. But while these spices can often be quite pungent, fennel is known to be far milder and therefore much more palatable for most people.
The presence of anethole in fennel gives it aromatic and carminative properties that make it useful in medicine, in fact, it was used to cure ailments in ancient Greece. Since then, fennel has been used in a variety of cultures to treat everything from upset stomachs to cholera, poor eyesight and even snakebites. It is also believed to be effective in warding off fleas in kennels and stables.
It's hardly surprising that such a useful herb had a high profile in many ancient cultures. In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods using the stalk of a giant fennel plant. The Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, believed that fennel featured alongside such exotic ingredients as crab apple, mugwort and stinging nettles as one of the nine sacred herbs used to keep diseases and evil spirits at bay. Since fennel has played such a big role in our past, it's probably time it played a bigger part in our present.
So, how can you get the most out of fennel? Let's start with the seeds. You've probably seen bowls of them offered at the end of the meal in Indian restaurants, to aid digestion and freshen the breath.
But fennel seeds can also be immersed in boiling water to make a piquant and refreshing tea. The leaves of fennel can be chopped and added to white fish dishes, especially in Italian cuisine where the Florence fennel is often called upon to lend an aromatic quality to recipes. Italians often use the firm white bulb of the Florence fennel as a root vegetable, grilling, roasting, simmering or sautéing it and using it in salads, perhaps with white beans and Parmesan cheese. There's so much more to discover. In fact, the more you begin to learn about fennel, the more shocked you'll be about how little you used to know.
@email:jbrennan@thenational.ae
Match info:
Wolves 1
Boly (57')
Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')
'Spies in Disguise'
Director: Nick Bruno and Troy Quane
Stars: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan and Roshida Jones
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Malin Cilic (CRO) v Benoit Paire (FRA) [8]
Not before 4pm:
Dan Evans (GBR) v Fabio Fogini (ITA) [4]
Not before 7pm:
Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [2]
Roberto Bautista Agut (SPA) [5] v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Court One
Starting at 2pm
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) v Dennis Novak (AUT)
Joao Sousa (POR) v Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
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Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (GBR) [1] v Marin Cilic v Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Nikoloz Basilashvili v Ricardas Berankis (LTU)
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
The biog
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Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The specs: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT
Price, base / as tested: Dh259,000
Engine: 6.4-litre V8
Power: 475hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 640Nm @ 4,300rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
UFC FIGHT NIGHT: SAUDI ARABIA RESULTS
Main card
Middleweight:
Robert Whittaker defeated Ikram Aliskerov via knockout (Round 1)
Heavyweight:
Alexander Volkov def Sergei Pavlovich via unanimous decision
Middleweight:
Kelvin Gastelum def Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision
Middleweight:
Shara Magomedov def Antonio Trocoli via knockout (Round 3)
Light heavyweight:
Volkan Oezdemir def Johnny Walker via knockout (Round 1)
Preliminary Card
Lightweight:
Nasrat Haqparast def Jared Gordon via split decision
Featherweight:
Felipe Lima def Muhammad Naimov via submission (Round 3)
Welterweight:
Rinat Fakhretdinov defeats Nicolas Dalby via split decision
Bantamweight:
Muin Gafurov def Kang Kyung-ho via unanimous decision
Light heavyweight:
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov def Brendson Ribeiro via majority decision
Bantamweight:
Chang Ho Lee def Xiao Long via split decision
UK record temperature
38.7C (101.7F) set in Cambridge in 2019
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
On racial profiling at airports
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
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The specs
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Transmission: CVT
Power: 119bhp
Torque: 145Nm
Price: Dh,89,900 ($24,230)
On sale: now
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Date started: 2020
Founders: Khaldoon Bushnaq and Tariq Seksek
Based: Abu Dhabi Global Market
Sector: HealthTech
Number of staff: 100
Funding to date: $15 million
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais