Hard to believe; I found a new spice
So, someone told me about this olive oil store, and I had to check it out. No, really, an olive oil store. Feel free to make Popeye jokes, as DH did, but it's apparently true. I say apparently, because the sign said they're on vacation for a week.
But next door was a spice shop, and since I already wasted my time driving, and I fed a parking meter, I wanted my money's worth, so I checked out the spice store. Let's just say that there aren't a whole lot of spices that I don't own and/or haven't tested and rejected. And if they do exist, they aren't sold in any normal store. So I was skeptical that I'd find something I wanted.
Yeah, they had a lot of blends with quirky names, but that's not new, that's just a different mix. Ho hum...cinnamon, marjoram, pepper, more pepper, other pepper, grains of paradise, vanilla...and then it caught my eye.
Fennel pollen.
Yup.
I saw some TV show...maybe something with Bittman, where a chef was going delirious about how great this stuff was. And I was thinking that I'd never seen it before and would probably never find it anywhere. And there it was. So I bought some.
And on the way home, I stopped at World Market and bought a big honkin' jar of olives and a 4-pack of vanillas -- from Madagascar, Mexico, Uganda and New Guinea. Interesting.
Oh, it was a lovely day. Thirty degrees colder than yesterday, cloudy, and I had a great day shopping.
So, has anyone actually used fennel pollen? Or am I in completely uncharted lands?
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
19 Comments:
@db - hope it doesn't make you sneeze..... ha haha.
seriously, i see it in a lot of fancy recipes.... have never tried it.... but i'm sure it would be interesting....
pooch at 9:33PM on 01/03/09
It's in a jar in a sealed bag and it smells more like fennel seeds than fennel seeds. First think I thought of was that it would make killer Italian sausage.
dbcurrie at 9:42PM on 01/03/09
i think of it as some kind of culinary fairy dust! i'll have to google it up and see what people do with it.... i know mario batali uses it.
pooch at 9:46PM on 01/03/09
I've googled, and it's supposed to be like fennel seed but stronger and maybe sweeter.
dbcurrie at 9:58PM on 01/03/09
we have a honey-lavendar (pollen) goat cheese locally -- i bet you could sprinkle some on goat cheese, also.
pooch at 10:04PM on 01/03/09
Currie, where are you? There was a really cool Olive Oil store that just opened, in my neighborhood of all things, in St Louis as I was leaving.
They had Fennel Pollen. I didn't try it. My husband is not a fennel, anise, licorice fan unless it's Sambuca or Pernod.
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 10:33PM on 01/03/09
I've discovered it a while ago and have been using it for a while. So far, I've used it as follows:
* sprinkled on roasted asparagus (along with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper)
* sprinkled on steamed broccoli (along with sea salt and garlic)
* used a bit when steaming mussels (white wine/garlic type)
* used in compound butter
* sprinkled on roasted or steamed (new) potatoes
* mixed a bit with kosher salt/sugar mix when making gravlax once - it was superb!
* mixed into my dry rub (along with smoked paprika, kosher salt, mustard powder and such) which i used on spare ribs - amazing!
* made a paste with garlic and olive oil and rubbed a chicken that I then roasted - loved it!
* used in the brine for the pork loin (subsequently cut into steaks, pounded and glazed with whole grain mustard/molasses glaze)
* used in a slaw that I served with seared scallops with mustard sauce.
...and probably have done some other things, but these are the ones I remember well.
Allergy-wise - my OH is prone to allergies, but I've noticed that once it's in the food, it doesn't bother him. If he happens to be around when I do the "sprinkling" part, he may start sneezing like mad.
brooke29 at 10:42PM on 01/03/09
Bill Buford talks about it in "Heat". Says he "smuggles" some back from Italy. Can't remember specifically what he does with it but he considers it near ephemeral.
MaresyDotes at 12:27AM on 01/04/09
Ha. Upon reading the title, I was all like "name it after yourself!".
I can't believe a store can survive on just selling olive oil. That just seems exceedingly specialized.
wunami at 12:50AM on 01/04/09
@wunami, that's part of the reason I wanted to check out the olive oil store. I find it hard to believe that they can survive on just that. They'll be open in a week, and we'll see. I peeked in the window, but didn't see much up front, which sense because you wouldn't want olive oils bathing in the sunlight.
Spice store next door has to be good for both of them. Maybe someone needs to open a vinegar store nearby.
dbcurrie at 1:39AM on 01/04/09
There is a store in Old Orchard, in Skokie that sells oil and vinegar... appropriately called "Oil and Vinegar." I've lived here for over a year, and it's survived that long, but Old Orchard is inhabited with rather upscale shops and shopped by rather affluent people. I did get a bottle of pomegranate-infused olive oil for Christmas from a friend - it's quite good!
honeybee413 at 3:12AM on 01/04/09
@honeybee413: There are actually a few olive-oil stores in the Chicago area. I'm aware of one in North Bridge (the mall on Michigan that houses Nordstroms) and another on Clark St. in Andersonville. I didn't remember the Old Orchard one until you mentioned it.
So for those posters who question whether an olive-oil store and sustain itself, know that several seem to be doing just that in Chicago.
chgoeditor at 9:07AM on 01/04/09
I've checked out fennel pollen on the web...can't find it locally even at Penzey's. Wonder if Whole Foods would have it?
Where are you located, DBCurrie?
bessfour at 9:56AM on 01/04/09
I use it in pizza it puts that ehmm whats that....its all good!
Markbb at 10:00AM on 01/04/09
I bought some a couple of years ago from Zingerman's -- link below. I love it with eggs, and it's fantastic as a rub with pork. I mix some with kosher salt and lemon zest and add it to vinagrettes, roasted veggies, practically everything! (I love fennel!) A little goes a long way -- "fairy dust" is a good way to describe it, and to use it!
http://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=P-FEN
suthungirl at 12:09PM on 01/04/09
I had seen Anne Burrell on TFN use it on her show - I sort of remembered that she had put it on steaks but then just checked the website and see she used it on chops.
katarina_santiago at 1:03PM on 01/04/09
@Bess, I'm in Colorado. I moved here from Chicago, and my taste buds went into shock when we arrived. The best pizza was Pizza Hut (no, really, it was the best) and I couldn't get an Italian beef sandwich or a gyros anywhere. No one had ever heard of them. Worse yet, none of the stores sold Italian sausage that I thought was acceptable, and none at all sold fresh Polish sausage, both of which were so easy to get in Chicago. No bakeries, either, except the ones in the grocery stores. No ethnic markets that I could find. And the restaurant choices were pretty dim, too.
As a result, I had to learn how to make all sorts of things that were so easy to buy in Chicago. It made me a better cook, but it also made me a bit of a fanatic about making things from scratch.
It's better now than it was when we moved here. There is ONE acceptable pizza place, and ONE place that makes acceptable (but not great) Italian beef and gyros sandwiches. The grocery stores have expanded their ethnic sections beyond Ragu and Chun King. And I've found a few interesting markets, but they're usually not right in the neighborhood. So sometimes "going shopping" can be an all-day affair and a hundred miles on the car.
And then, once in a while, some quirky store will pop up, or some mom-and-pop store owner will start carrying unusual items. But I still order quite a bit of stuff online.
dbcurrie at 1:27PM on 01/04/09
Might be nice to dust onto fish or scallops along with S&P before sauteeing??
jimthecook at 1:52PM on 01/04/09
Fennel pollen is my new favorite spice. I’ve used it on Kobe beef sliders, over pork tenderloin and sprinkled over cheese. It’s also really good over veggies and in salad dressing. I haven’t tried it yet, but apparently it’s also good in sweet dishes like apple pie, chocolate truffles, etc. Enjoy!
fiddleheadfern at 11:30AM on 01/05/09