| Anise (& Star Anise) |
| Anis & Stjärn Anise |
Spice: Anise or Aniseed, less commonly Anís (Pimpinella anisum), is a flowering plant in the Apiaceae Family, native to the eastern Mediterranean region and southwest Asia. It is a herbaceous annual plant. Spice: Star Anise, (Illicium parviflorum) is part of the Illiciaceas family. Common Names: Yellow Anise, Yellow Anise tree or Chinese Star Anise, (Chinese: pinyin: bājiǎo, lit. "eight-horn") is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China. Star anise contains anethole, the same ingredient which gives the unrelated Anise its flavor. |
| Season: Both are available all year round dried. |
Delicious in cookies, cakes, fruit dishes, coleslaw, cottage cheese, salad dressings, spicy meat mixtures, rye bread and apple pie. Sometimes used to give a licorice flavor and aroma to foods. The pods are used whole in soups and stews for flavoring. They are also used a good deal in Mediterranean and Indian cooking. Anise seeds are one of the main ingredients in Chinese Five Spice.
Possible Substitutes:
Aniseeds and Star Anis are not related they come from 2 different plants. Aniseeds come dried, whole or finely ground, Star Anise come dried and as whole pods.
Star Anise & it's aromatic seeds are small, grayish brown, oval shaped and are anis flavored. Star Anise pictured here are star shaped pods, each pod containing a seed.
I have put these together here because of their similar taste, flavor and use.