This Pickled Fennel is sweetened with orange and spiked with a cornucopia of mustard seeds, black peppercorns and star anise. The end-product is a fennel that is all crunch and flavor.
Perfect topping for salads, a sandwich condiment, tossed on your scrambled eggs, or add to your protein bowl. And of course, you can snack on them right out of the jar!
Pickled Fennel...Recipe Inspiration
Mark and I stopped in for brunch at FiKA, a Nordic-inspired café at the American Swedish Institute located in Minneapolis. The seasonally inspired menu is dedicated to regional ingredients and new Nordic cuisine.
Under salad & soup is a beet salad with pickled fennel. What a treat. The fennel was the color of turmeric and full of crunch and flavor.
As fennel is now showing up at my farmers market, I decided to experiment with pickling fennel. I love the anise-y flavor of fennel, and by pickling it, an extra sharpness comes out that is great on salad.
The pickled fennel will be more than you need for a particular sandwich or salad, which means you’ve got plenty to experiment with in the future.
What is a Quick Pickle?
This is a “quick pickle”, meaning it isn't processed in a boiling water bath for shelf stability. The fennel is sliced thinly, tossed with some salt and allowed to sit for an hour or so. This salting step draws out some of the liquid and makes space for the vinegar to enter the fennel.
Before you Get Started Pickling...
Make sure to give your fennel plenty of time to rest with the salt. It improves the final crunch and flavor dramatically.
These pickles improve over time. Let them rest at least 24 hours before you break into them, 48 hours is even better.
Looking for other recipes that use Pickled fennel? Try this Sicilian inspired Fennel and Orange Salad.
How Did You Use Pickled Fennel?
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Pickled Fennel (Perfect for Salads)!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small fennel bulb(s)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 orange zest of half an orange, plus juice from the orange
- 1 lemon zest of half a lemon, plus juice from the lemon
- 1 ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 ¼ cup water
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon all spice berries
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 teaspoon Tumeric
Instructions
- Trim the top stalks from the fennel, reserving some of the fronds. Trim the root end and peel away any tough outer layers. Cut the fennel bulbs vertically in two. Slice out and discard solid core .
- Slice the trimmed bulb very thinly (⅛ inch) on a mandolin slicer, or with a very sharp knife. Place fennel in a colander in sink or large bowl and sprinkle with salt; toss to mix. Let rest for 1 hour.
- Using a zester that removes zest in strips, remove half the zest from the orange and lemon. Juice the orange and lemon, set aside.
- Combine salted fennel, orange and lemon strips, and a few fennel fronds. Toss well to mix. Pack the mixture and fennel fonds into a wide mouth quart jar and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine water, orange juice, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Pour mixture into the jar with the fennel. Make sure the fennel is completely covered with pickling liquid. If not, add a little more water to top off.
- Let cool at room temperature, then cap and refrigerate. It's ready to enjoy as soon as it's chilled, and will keep up to a month, refrigerated.
Video
Notes
Make sure to give your fennel plenty of time to rest with the salt. It improves the final crunch and flavor dramatically.
These pickles improve over time. Let them rest at least 24 hours before you break into them, 48 hours is even better.
Your Notes, Tips and Tricks
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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