Grub Glorious Grub

This is one of my favourite salads. I chop the whole lot up into similar sized pieces, sprinkle liberally with olive oil and roast it in the oven for an hour or more.

It all shrivels down to about a third of its size and the flavours intensify. The fennel, lemon and garlic add some real zing.

Fab!

Whilst checking how to spell fennel I discovered that the ancient Greeks would use it as a slimming aid.

The ancient Chinese believed that it could cure snake bites.

The Romans cultivated Fennel for its healing properties.

Many English herbalists thought that Fennel could sharpen ones sight.

"So Gladiators fierce and rude; mingled it with their daily food. And he who battled and subdued; a wreath of fennel wore" - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882

Fennel is thought to be one of the nine herbs held sacred by the Anglo-Saxons

In medieval times fennel was used in conjunction with St Johns Wort to keep away witchcraft.