With its distinctive aniseed flavour, fennel is the Marmite of the vegetable world – you either love it or hate it. I’m definitely in the lovers’ camp.

Thinly sliced raw in salads, braised in stock with fish, grilled wedges with pork, roasted alongside chicken, as a purée with scallops and in a delicate velouté sauce with baked fish – what can’t you do with this fresh and fragrant vegetable?

There are different types of fennel. First, there is the bulbous type known as Florence fennel, which comes in all shapes and sizes, from baby to large, from long and thin to round and plump.

Choose bulbs with their tops and fronds intact because this indicates freshness, as well as bulbs with tight layers; looseness is a sign of age.

Then there is the fresh herb fennel, which is beautiful scattered over salads and fish and chopped up in Italian sausages and lamb stews.

Finally, there are fennel seeds: a dried spice that is used sparingly, whole or ground, to add flavour in curries, sauces or with the fennel bulbs themselves, to intensify their flavour.

Pan-roasted trout and caramelised fennel with a watercress and hazelnut salad

Paprika pork chops with fennel and apple coleslaw

Chilled fennel and melon soup with crab garnish

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