• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Ecco La Cucina Cookbook
  • Tours We Offer
    • Medieval Tuscany Culinary Tour
    • Elegant Piedmont Culinary Tour
    • Veneto Wine Regions Tour
    • Ancient Puglia Culinary Tour
    • Bologna and Emilia Romagna Tour
    • Best of Bologna Culinary Tour
    • The Palio of Siena Tour
    • Taste Of Tuscany Tour
    • Naples & Campania Culinary Tour
    • Where We Stay
  • Tour Dates
    • Registration and Pricing
  • Press & News
    • Travel Tips
    • our Newsletters
  • Contact Us
  • Gina’s Blog

Ecco La Cucina

Culinary Tours In Italy

Wild Fennel

Autumn is finally here and it gets cool as soon as the sun goes down, but the days are still bright blue and sunny. This summer and fall we haven’t had rain at all and that means no excursions into the woods to hunt mushrooms. But there’s always something to harvest in Tuscany and right now the countryside is loaded with bright yellow wild fennel flowers turning to seed. I know that if I wait a month there will be a great crop of wild fennel seed, but as soon as it gets cool I start thinking about roasted pork and pancetta, how great they would be dusted with fresh fennel pollen and I can’t wait.

Fennel pollen has become a big hit with chefs in America. It sounds so exotic and carries a big price tag. Which I find amusing, really, because wild fennel plants line the country lanes in Tuscany and cover the meadows, free for the picking. The wild fennel flower is basically a dot of yellow pollen on the end of a small stem, surrounded by miniscule petals, almost too small to notice. A dozen or more of these form the flower, so when you’re collecting fennel pollen you’re in effect collecting the flowers.

Fennel is great for digestion and intestinal ailments and the locals frequently make a tea to drink after dinner. It’s also a main ingredient in digestivi and bitters, Italian liquors drunk after dinner to aid digestion, and bowls of the seeds are often found in Indian restaurants for you to snack on after dinner.

Of course if you don’t have wild fennel growing in the fields where you live, just grind cultivated seeds for the same effect. Fennel marries beautifully with pork and Italians put fennel seed, both wild and cultivated, in lots of pork products. You find the whole seeds in fresh sausage and the Tuscan salami known as finocchiona, while ground seeds are rubbed on the outside of cured pork products like guanciale and copacolla.

Buon Appetito! Gina

Maiale Arrosto con Finocchio (roast pork with wild fennel)

pork loin roast, with fat if possible

extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp wild fennel seeds and flowers, whole or crushed

1 sprig fresh rosemary

5-7 fresh sage leaves

4 garlic cloves

salt

white wine (dry)

Salt the roast. In a heavy sauté pan, heat a small amount of oil and brown the meat over a high heat, turning to brown all sides and ends. Remove and place it in a roasting pan.

Rub the fennel all over the pork, place the rosemary and sage underneath the roast and scatter the garlic cloves around it. Pour in enough white wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Roast it in the oven at 425° until the internal temperature reads 150°, turning the roast over once. (An instant read thermometer is indispensable for this.) Remove from oven and let it rest 15 minutes before slicing. Slice the roast and serve it topped with the pan juices, with a sprinkle of fennel pollen on top. Garnish with fennel fronds.

Filed Under: seasonal & summer fruit Tagged With: fennel, fennel pollen, pork and fennel, wild fennel

Previous Post: « Culatello di Zibello
Next Post: Tortellini and a history lesson »

Primary Sidebar

Gina & MaryGina and Mary offer culinary adventures for those that want to get off the touristy track and live like a local. We love exploring the wonderful open air markets, the extensive vineyards and cantinas, small ancient hill-top villages, all the while enjoying the local food and wine. We help you explore all aspects of the Italian table during our culinary tours and give you an insider’s view of each region we visit. Living and traveling extensively in Italy has made us experts on the foods and wines of our heritage land.

See What People Are Saying About Us

Trip Advisor

Follow Us On Facebook

Cover for Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
1,905
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

Gina and Mary lead small group food and wine tours in Italy - together we are Ecco La Cucina - "here's the kitchen" in Italian. During our culinary tours we explore all aspects of the Italian table. Join us in Tuscany, Piedmont, Puglia!

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
3 weeks ago
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

Do you know Barbera d’Alba? This wine made from the barbera grape in the area of Alba, piedmont is delicious. This grape produces medium bodied ruby wine with low tannins and bright acidity. Spice, chocolate, hints of tabacco with a luscious, fresh berry finish! Try it if you don’t known it! #piedmontwines #italianwines #winetoursinitaly #barberadalba #eccolacucina #barbera ... See MoreSee Less

Do you know Barbera d’Alba? This wine made from the barbera grape in the area of Alba, piedmont is delicious. This grape produces medium bodied ruby wine with low tannins and bright acidity. Spice, chocolate, hints of tabacco with a luscious, fresh berry finish! Try it if you don’t known it! #piedmontwines #italianwines #winetoursinitaly #barberadalba #eccolacucina #barbera
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 8
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 1

1 CommentComment on Facebook

One of my favorites! 😀🍷

Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
4 weeks ago
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

#eastereggs #chocolatetreats #chocolatefromitaly #travelwithginaandmary
#chocolateeggs #eccolacucina #torinochocolate
... See MoreSee Less

#eastereggs #chocolatetreats #chocolatefromitaly #travelwithginaandmary 
#chocolateeggs #eccolacucina #torinochocolateImage attachmentImage attachment+1Image attachment
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
4 weeks ago
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

#spada #swordfish rolls. #authenticfoods #freshfish #travelwithginaandmary ... See MoreSee Less

#spada #swordfish rolls. #authenticfoods #freshfish #travelwithginaandmary
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
1 month ago
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

#tulips #carrottops #attheitaliantable ... See MoreSee Less

#tulips #carrottops #attheitaliantable
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 5
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

1 CommentComment on Facebook

Buona Pasqua!

Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy
1 month ago
Ecco La Cucina - Culinary Tours in Italy

Wishing you a Happy Easter and a blessed Passover! Enjoy these spring side dish ideas. Perfect wine pairings for what's on the table this weekend! #BuonaPasqua #Easter #Passover #winepairings
conta.cc/4iqn9XH
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Buona Pasqua & a Blessed Passover!

web-extract.constantcontact.com

Email from Ecco La Cucina Spring recipe ideas & Wine pairings   Buona Pasqua! Ciao cari amici! We'd like to wish everyone Happy Easter - Buona Pasqua and a blessed Passover! In Italy, Pasqua is ce
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 3
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

Footer

Contact Us

Mary Stipo Potter

Email: mary@eccolacucina.com

Phone:  (+1) 972-342-8308 (CST - Dallas)

Ecco La Cucina, Localita' Brenna, Siena Province, Tuscany

Copyright © 2025 · Cookd Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in