Fennel when fresh, slowly turning a dull grey as the seed ages. For cooking, green seeds are optimal. The leaves are delicately flavored and similar in shape to those of dill. The bulb is a crisp vegetable that can be sautéed, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw. Young tender leaves are used for garnishes, as a salad, to add flavor to salads, to flavor sauces to be served with puddings, and also in soups and fish sauce. Fennel seeds are sometimes confused with those of anise, which are similar in taste and appearance, though smaller. Fennel is also used as a
HMCS Fennel Winston Churchill reactivated the corvette class, needing a name for smaller ships used in an escort capacity, in this case based on a whaling ship design. The generic name "flower" was used to designate the class of these ships, which – in the Royal Navy – were named after flowering plants. "Fennel" was ordered by the Royal Navy on 22 January 1940 as part of the 1939–1940 Flower-class building program. She was laid down 29 March 1940 by Marine Industries Ltd. at Sorel, Quebec and launched 20 August later that year. "Fennel" was towed to Liverpool, Nova Scotia and was