Our fennel is sourced from a long-standing Well Earth partner in Turkey. It’s a local variety of sweet fennel grown in the region around the village of Tefenni in the southwest part of Turkey.
The fennel fields are irrigated via deep wells, and the plants are pollinated by bees that are moved around by local beekeepers. The fennel produced is far more flavorful than Egyptian fennel (which isn’t really sweet fennel or bitter fennel) or Indian sweet fennel (which has a lower oil content than the Turkish).
After harvest, our fennel seed is taken directly to a food-safe facility rather than being stored at the farms (where rodent contamination can occur). The fennel is processed there to remove any impurities — including optical scanning by a sophisticated color sorter that Frontier Co-op helped fund through a Well Earth grant.
All of our fennel (whole and ground, organic and conventional) is sourced from our Well Earth partner in Turkey, making our fennel some of the best on the market.