Strange vegetable

Wow, this world is sure strange!! You will be amazed at how much interesting stuffs you can find in a supermarket here in Australia! First it was the patty pan or commonly known as button squash which looks like those spinning tops that children used to play back in the kampong days. Now, the vegetable that I chanced upon in Coles looks so much like some musical instrument or those urinal containers back in the olden China days! Gross! LOL…

I’m amazed every time I looked at it – it has such a big round bottom! LOL. I don’t believe I have eaten it before, and I certainly don’t remember seeing it in our Asian dishes. Can the whole thing be eaten?? Anyway, this strange vegetable thing is called fennel. LOL… sounds like ‘funnel’! And you look at the leaves of the fennel, it looks like some aquatic plants as well. The overall look of it already puts me off, so don’t expect me to eat it!

According to Wikipedia, fennel is a highly aromatic herb! For instance, dried fennel seeds are actually a type of spice! No wonder they look so familiar – must have seen the seed when I was buying spices sometime back. In addition, fennel seeds together with Szechuan pepper, star anise, cassia, and cloves forms the five-spice powder (五香粉) as well! Interesting! Besides food, fennel is also used as a flavoring in toothpaste! Oh gosh, wonder how it tastes like! Imagine having spicy taste after brushing your teeth! LOL…

Well, I guess seeds are alright. Just don’t ask me to eat the whole vegetable!