Botanical Bakery’s Fennel Pollen Shortbread Cookies were a no-brainer for the July Tasting Box. Exceptional as shortbreads go, the flavor of pure cane sugar and European-style butter converge into a cookie that is at once rich and yet ethereal, disintegrating on the tongue. And then, there’s that haunting flavor …

Fennel pollen. Not commonly used in America, fennel pollen is popular in Italy in dishes both sweet and savory, including salumi. Licorice haters recoil in horror at the mere mention of fennel, but the pollen is a steed of a different shade. There’s no denying its roots (er, bulbs) and there is a whisper of anise, but it sings in harmony with floral notes to take on a flavor far more like honey. It’s subtle and elegant, not the palate-bludgeoning mallet of full-on licorice.

Fennel pollen is exactly what it sounds like: The pollen from fennel heads as they bloom in late spring and early summer. Once they’re pollinated, they go on to produce fennel seeds, which in turn of course germinate to produce new fennel plants.  And there’s only one way to harvest it: By hand.

When the fennel heads are covered in yellow blooms, you simply give them a shake or gently brush them with your thumb to shake loose the golden powder. Needless to say, the yield is not great — a several-second shake will shed at most a teaspoon’s worth — but a little goes a long way.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, fennel grows ferally; it’s believed to be descended from bulbs brought over by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. In San Francisco proper, huge thickets of it can be found on hillsides. When the fennel heads are in, we can’t resist nabbing a little of the pollen for our kitchen. But if you don’t have access to free fennel pollen in your neck of the woods, not to worry: Botanical Bakery’s cookies top our list of delicacies made with it.