Essential NoseFennel
Fennel oil smells of aniseed, and that is almost entirely down to one compound. Trans-anethole makes up two thirds to four fifths of it, the same compound that carries star anise and liquorice.[1] Sweet fennel is the mild version, while bitter fennel adds fenchone and is sharper and more restricted. In a trial of 30 women with period pain, an oral fennel preparation worked about as well as mefenamic acid, a standard painkiller.[2] The drug beat it on the heaviest days, and one in six women dropped out because they could not stand the smell.[2]
Sweet Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare
- Also Known As
- Fennel, Florence Fennel
- Family
- Herbal
- Perfumery Note
- Middle
- Intensity
- Medium
- Extraction
- Steam Distillation
- Plant Parts
- Seeds
- Origins
- France, Hungary, India
- Effect
- Grounding & Centering, Respiratory Support, Focus & Mental Clarity
- Aroma
- Anise-like, Sweet, Herbal
- Applications
- Diffusing & Inhalation, Massage & Body, Cooking & Flavouring
- Price
- $$$$Extensively farmed for the food industry; very high oil yield
Sweet fennel is the culinary variety, and its oil is the gentler of the two fennels. It carries almost no fenchone, the sharp ketone that makes bitter fennel medicinal and restricted. What is left is trans-anethole, sweet and aniseed-like, at around three quarters of the oil.[1] In a trial of women with period pain, an oral fennel preparation matched a standard painkiller for how long relief lasted.[2] It lost on the heaviest days, and the taste put a sixth of the women off entirely.[2]
Bitter Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare
- Also Known As
- Foeniculum vulgare ssp. piperitum, Bitter Fennel Fruit, Wild Fennel
- Family
- Herbal
- Perfumery Note
- Middle
- Intensity
- Strong
- Extraction
- Steam Distillation
- Plant Parts
- Seeds
- Origins
- Bulgaria, Spain, Turkey
- Effect
- Grounding & Centering, Respiratory Support, Focus & Mental Clarity
- Aroma
- Anise-like, Camphoraceous, Bitter, Herbal
- Applications
- Diffusing & Inhalation
- Price
- $$$$Wild-harvested and lower-yield than sweet fennel, but still a widely cultivated Mediterranean crop, keeping cost moderate.
Bitter fennel is the same species as sweet fennel, standardised to a different chemistry. European pharmacopoeia requires at least 15% fenchone, where sweet fennel has almost none.[3][4] That ketone makes it sharper, more camphorous and genuinely medicinal rather than sweet. It held back three moulds that attack crops in lab tests.[3] Fenchone crosses the placenta and has caused convulsions at high exposure, so bitter fennel is avoided in pregnancy, breastfeeding and with young children.[5][6]
References
- [1]Foeniculum vulgare Mill: a review of its botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, contemporary application, and toxicology - Badgujar SB, Patel VV, Bandivdekar AH. BioMed Research International, 2014
- [2]Comparison of fennel and mefenamic acid for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea - Namavar Jahromi B, Tartifizadeh A, Khabnadideh S. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 2003
- [3]Comparative essential oil composition and antifungal effect of bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ssp. piperitum) fruit oils obtained during different vegetation - Ozcan MM, Chalchat JC, Arslan D, Ates A, Unver A. Journal of Medicinal Food, 2006
- [4]Characteristics of fatty acids and essential oil from sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. dulce) and bitter fennel fruits - Cosge B, Kiralan M, Gurbuz B. Natural Product Research, 2008
- [5]Fenchone, a monoterpene: toxicity and diuretic profiling in rats - Bashir A, Mushtaq MN, Younis W, et al. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2023
- [6]Maternal reproductive toxicity of some essential oils and their constituents - Dosoky NS, Setzer WN. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021