🥃 Fennel

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a plant of the carrot family whose dried fruits, the so-called seeds, have a sweet anise aroma. In spirit drinks, fennel is one of three plants that EU law names directly for anise drinks, alongside common anise and star anise. The main aromatic substance in all of them is anethole.

Sweet and bitter. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) assesses two varieties separately: sweet fennel (var. dulce) and bitter fennel (var. vulgare). The fruits of sweet fennel are traditionally used for mild stomach and intestinal cramps, bloating and coughs during colds.

In EU law. Category 25 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787, anise-flavoured spirit drink, allows spirit to be flavoured with extracts of anise, star anise, fennel or another plant with the same main aroma, from 15% ABV. The category “anise” (category 28) may take its flavour only from anise, star anise or fennel.

In absinthe. Florence fennel, together with grand wormwood and green anise, forms the “holy trinity” of absinthe. The plants are steeped in spirit and distilled, usually in a copper still; the colourless distillate comes out at a strength slightly above 70% ABV, and the green colour comes from other herbs.

Why this matters to you. The fennel in a drink explains why anise drinks turn cloudy with water: anethole dissolves well in spirit but not in water. The medicinal properties of the plant do not make a drink containing it a medicine. WHO reminds us that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.