Aniseed (Pimpinella anisum) is a flowering plant native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia and  tastes a little like liquorice, tarragon and fennel – all mixed together. Star anise is the fruit of a small evergreen tree native to southwest China but now cultivated in Japan and Southeast Asia. Botanically, the plants are entirely different, though – aniseed is a member of the parsley family and anethole (made from the seeds of both plants, to a lesser degree the star anise) is the oil that accounts for the sweet licorice taste but star anise belongs to the magnolia family. Both the leaves and the seeds

taste similar and are used in savoury and sweet foods in Europe and the Middle East, in spicy and seafood dishes in India and in a host of Southeast Asian food. In France it’s used for pastis and in Greece ouzo - it is also chewed after meals in some Middle Eastern countries and  India to sweeten the breath. Star anise are small star-shaped fruit with (usually) eight points and with a seed in each of the points and the pod can be used whole as a flavouring or the seeds can be used, alone, for flavouring – it is the dominant flavour in Chinese five-spice powder. Used in Asia to flavour pork and chicken and also in teas, it has,with the advent of fusion food, spread around the globe like a wildfire. As in aniseed, the flavour comes mainly from the anethole oil but is more more bitter than the aniseed.

The important thing is to look at the recipe and then decide whether you want to use whole aniseed, ground aniseed, anise extract, anethole oil, star anise, ground star anise or the liqueurs made from an anise derivative,

Anise has been cultivated in Egypt for over 4,000 years and the first reference was found on an Egyptian papyrus and in the Hammurabi texts that date back to around 2000 BC give or take a decade or two –  through the ages there were a myriad of uses for it, some follow below:

• According to some pharaonic medical texts, the seeds were used as a diuretics, for toothaches and for digestive problems.
• Famous doctors of old, like Hippocrates and Dioscorides recommended it for their patients, the former prescribed it to clear the respiratory system and the latter (in the 1^st century AD)  believed it would “warm, dry and dissolve”.
• In Biblical times, anise was so valuable that it was even used to pay taxes and for tithes – evidence of this is found in the gospels of Luke and Mark (there are those that believe the word “anise” found in Matthew actually refers to “dill” – again, much is lost in translation.
• Pliny recommended chewing it first thing in the morning to get rid of “morning breath” and, for good measure, wrote that it was advisable to keep some next to the bed to stave off bad dreams.
• The Romans, cleverly, made spicy sweet cakes stuffed with anise to be served after dinner so that their guests didn’t suffer from indigestion or other associated discomforts
• In the Middle Ages anise was used with honey and vinegar to gargle in the treatment of tonsillitis.
• The Romans used it as a form of currency.
• Charlemagne, in the 9^th century decreed that anise be grown on all imperial farms.
• Albertus Magnus who lived in the 12^th century also praised anise fervently.
• In the 16th century, Europeans discovered mice were attracted to anise and baited their traps with it.
• Germans, concerned about their health as much in the 18 century as they are today, often flavoured their bread with whole aniseed and to this day, rye bread is commonly flavoured with whole aniseed.

Despite being cultivated for at least 2,000 years, there has been very little development of improved varieties.

CHEERS!

Aniseed is used in the production of a host of drinks, notably:

• Absinthe – French
• Aguardiente - Colombian
• Anisette – French
• Anís - Peruvian
• Arak – Arabian
• Chartreuse – French (yes, it’s one of the secret ingredients!)
• Jägermeister – German
• Mastika – Eastern European
• Ouzo – Greek
• Pastis – French
• Raki - Turkish
• Sambuca - Italian

The seeds are classically used in well known foods like:

• Australian Humbugs
• British aniseed balls,
• Dutch muisjes,
• Greek stuffed vine leaves, dolma
• German pfeffernusse and springerle
• Italian pizzelle
• Mexican atole de anís or champurrado (a type of hot chocolate)
• New Zealand aniseed wheels
• Nigerian tom-tom sweets
• Norwegian knotts
• Peruvian picarones.

STAR ANISE

Star anise tastes similar to anise and is made from the star-shaped pericarp of the Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China and a member of the Magnolia family. The fruits are harvested just before they ripen and are widely used in Chinese cuisine, in Indian cuisine (it’s an important ingredient in garam masala) and in Malay/Indonesian cuisine. In China, India and most other Asian countries the spice is widely grown for commercial use. Star anise is used in cooking, for alcoholic drinks like Pernod and in medicines – like Tamiflu. Beware of the Japanese star anise – it’s not edible. Star anise is one of the ingredients in the Chinese five-spice powder, in  pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup and in the preparation of Biryani in Andhra Pradesh – a state in southern India

SWEET AND SOUR TOFU SALAD

Ingredients

• 450g tofu – cut into cubes
• 225 g  mangetout peas, halved
• 225g french beans, halved
• 100 g broccoli florets, cut into bite sized pieces
• 100 g yellow baby tomatoes
• 1  carrot, cut into julienne strips
• 1 stick celery, finely sliced
• 1 large red chilli – finely sliced
• 1 large red pepperoni, deseeded and sliced into julienne strips
• 1 small leek, sliced into thin strips
• 1 un-waxed lemon, grated zest only
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp fish fauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp Demerara sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon Juice
• ½  tsp freshly ground star anise
• 2tbsp light extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Maizena (cornflour)
• 300 ml water

Method

• Fry the garlic in the hot oil for a few seconds, turn down the heat and then add the tofu in batches and stir-fry over a gentle heat until all the cubes are golden on all sides.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
• In the same warm to hot oil, add the leeks, the carrot, the celery, the pepperoni, the mangetout peas, the broccoli  and the green beans and stir-fry  until tender but crisp.
• Pour in the oyster sauce, the tamarind concentrate, the fish sauce, the zest,  both soy sauces, the chilli sauce, the chilli, the sugar, the lemon juice and the star anise and stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
• Mix the Maizena  with the water and add to the wok  with the fried tofu – bring  to the boil and cook for a few minutes until the sauce thickens slightly and serve immediately.

CHINESE CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients

• 12 fat chicken wings
• 1 heaped tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 8 spring onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 90 ml dark soy sauce
• 60ml orange Juice
• 90 ml Hoisin sauce
• 60ml Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp plum sauce
• 60 ml apple cider vinegar
• 60 ml sesame oil
• 1 tsp hot chilli paste  (buy the authentic Chinese stuff)
• 4 whole star anise
• 4 tbsp honey

Method

• Put the ginger and the spring onions in a food processor and pulse until everything become quite a fine mixture and transfer to a wok where you add all the rest of the ingredients except the chicken wings.
• Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat immediately and simmer for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
• In the meantime, cut off wing tips and then joint the wings into two sections, place them into a large bowl and pour the cooled sauce over them, tossing everything well to coat all the wings evenly – cover and refrigerate this overnight in a covered bowl – or use a large Ziploc bag for everything.
• Preheat the oven to 190C and oil two large, shallow roasting tins lightly.
• Drain the wings, reserving the marinade and place them into the two roasting tins, making sure that they are set out individually.
• Roast them uncovered 1 – 1 ½  hours, basting them every 15 minutes with the reserved marinade and turning each wing as you baste.
• After you have cooked them, remove the wings from roasting tins and place them on sheets of aluminium foil in a single layer.
• Allow to the wings to cool and then serve or transfer to  an airtight container so refrigerate them until you are ready to serve them.

WARM ANISE WHITE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Ingredients

• 450 g white chocolate, grated
• 2 tbsp Pernod
• 200 g icing sugar
• 150 ml water
• 4 whole star anise
• 240 ml single cream

Method

• Put the sugar, the water, the star anise and the Pernod in a pot and bring to a boil on high heat, stirring continuously.
• Reduce the heat, still stirring continuously for about 2 minutes and then set aside and leave for about 3 minutes.
• Add the white chocolate to this mixture and stir until everything has melted and then slowly add the cream and mix well.
• Remove the star anise and serve warm over host of different cakes (image above), chocolate desserts or ice cream.