If you enjoy anise or black licorice, fennel is your vegetable. The foliage is especially aromatic and flavourful, although the bulb is more often the star in the kitchen.
Fennel is a wonderful ingredient in soup (try it with leeks, blended). Other cooking techniques include halving the bulb and BBQing it, braising the bulb in milk or broth in the oven, or simply cutting it into pieces and roasting or stirfrying it with your other favourite vegetables.
For a real treat, slice the raw bulb thinly (e.g. with a mandolin) and add it to your salad as a crunchy, subtle flavouring. (For example, check out CSA member Sheila’s amazing recipe here.)
Or simply strip off the layers and eat them one by one as an easy raw snack.
Up for an experiment? Try making pesto using the ferny foliage.