Spice Pages: Anise Seeds (Pimpinella anisum)

Synonyms

pharmaceutical	Fructus Anisi
Albanian	Anason, Glikanxo
Arabic	حبة الحلوة, ينسون, كمون حلو, أنيسون
حَبَّة الْحُلْوَة, يانْسُون
Habbet hilwa, Habbu al-hulwah, Yansoon, Yansun, Anisun, Kamun halu, Kamoon halou
Aramaic	ܫܒ݂ܬ, ܫܝܒܐ
Shwet, Shiba
Armenian	Անիսոն
Anison
Assamese	চফ্
Soph
Basque	Anis
Belarusian	Аніс
Anis
Breton	Aniz
Bulgarian	Анасон
Anason
Catalan	Anís, Comí
Chinese	Pa chio, Yan kok
Chinese (Cantonese)	大茴香 [daaih wùih hēung], 洋茴香 [yèuhng wùih hēung]
Daai wuih heong, Yeung wuih heong
Chinese (Mandarin)	大茴香 [dà huí xiāng], 洋茴香 [yáng huí xiāng]
Da hui xiang, Huei hsiang, Yang hui xiang
Croatian	Anis
Czech	Anýz, Anýz vonný
Danish	(Grøn) anis
Dutch	Anijs, Wilde pimpernel, Nieszaad, Groene anijs
English	Sweet cumin, Aniseed
Esperanto	Anizo
Estonian	Harilik aniis
Farsi	انیسون, بادیان رومی
Anisun, Badiyan romi
Finnish	Anisruoho, Anis
French	Anis vert, Boucage
Frisian	Anys
Gaelic	Ainis
Galician	Anís
Georgian	ანისული
Anisuli
German	Anis
Greek	Γλυκάνισο, Άνισον
Glikaniso, Glykaniso, Anison
Greek (Old)	Ἄνητον, Ἄννησον, Ἄνισον
Aneton, Anneson, Anison
Gujarati	વરિયાળી
Variyali
Hebrew	אניס
אָנִיס
Anis
Hindi	छोटी सौंफ़, पतली सौंफ़, सौंफ़, सौंफ, विलायती सौंफ़, शोप, सुव्वा
Choti saunf, Patli saunf, Saunf, Saumph, Vilayati saunf, Suvva, Shop
Hungarian	Ánizs
Icelandic	Anís
Indonesian	Jinten manis
Irish	Ainíse
Italian	Anice, Anice verde
Japanese	アニス
Anisu
Kannada	ಲಕ್ಕೋ ಸೋಂಪು
Lakko sompu
Korean	아니스, 에니시드
Anisu, Enisidu
Latin	Anesum
Latvian	Anīss
Lithuanian	Anyžius, Anyžinė ožiažolė, Anyžių sėklos
Macedonian	Анасон
Anason
Marathi	बडीशेप
Badishep, Shauf
Nepali	सोंफ
Sop
Mongolian	Далиу
Daliu
Norwegian	Anis
Polish	Anyż, Biedrzeniec anyż
Portuguese	Anis, Anis verde, Erva-doce
Provençal	Anis
Romanian	Anason
Russian	Анис
Anis
Sanskrit	Shatapushpa
Serbian	Анис, Аниш
Anis, Aniš
Slovak	Aníz, Bedrovník anízový, Anyž, Bederník anyžový
Slovenian	Janež, Vrtni janež
Spanish	Anís, Matalahuga
Swedish	Anis, Anisfrö
Tagalog	Anis
Tajik	Арпабодиён
Arpabodiyon
Tamil	அனீசு, மகம்பூ, நட்சத்திரசீரகம், சோம்பு, சோம்பு
Anisu, Magambu, Natchattirajiragam, Sombu
Telugu	సొంపు
Sompu
Thai	เทียนสัตตบุษย์
Thian sattabusa
Turkish	Anason, Enisen, Enison, Ezertere, Mesir otu, Nanahan, Raziyanei-rumi
Ukrainian	Аніс
Anis
Urdu	انیسواں
Anisuan
Uzbek	Arpabodiyon
Арпабодиён
Vietnamese	Cây hồi, Tiểu hồi
Cay hoi, Tieu hoi
Yiddish	ענעס
Enes

Sugar-coated anise seeds from India

Dried anise fruits (also termed anis seeds)

Used plant part

Fruits, which are often termed seeds, though this is not botanically correct. Plant family

Apiaceae (parsley family). Sensory quality

Sweet and very aromatic. See cicely for other spices with a similar fragrance.
For an overview on sweet spices, see licorice.

Anise flower

Main con­sti­tuents

The aroma of the es­sen­tial oil (up to 3% in the fruits) is domi­nated by trans-anethole (max. 90%). Ad­ditional aroma com­ponents are estragol (iso-anethol, 2%), anise aldehyde (less than 1%), anise alcohol, p-methoxy-aceto­phenone, pinene, limonene, γ-himachalene (2%). An unusual compound is the phenol ester 4-methoxy-2-(1-propene-yl)-phenol-2-methyl-butyrate, which is characteristic for anise (5%).
Older books (e. g., Melchior and Kastner) mention that anise, especially of Italian origin, may contain small amounts of highly toxic hemlock fruits. This warning seems now to be obsolete; you’ll probably not share Sokrates’ fate just after enjoying one anise biscuit.
Origin

Eastern Medi­terranean (Egypt?) or West Asia. Turkey is still an important producer in our days, but still better qualities come from Spain.

In Far Eastern cuisines (India, Iran, Indonesia), no distinction is made between anise and fennel (see below). Therefore, the same name is usually given to both of them. On the Philippines, star anise is a popular spice and referred to as anise for short.

Anise flowers

Etymology

The spice got its an­cient names (Latin anisum from Greek anison [ἄνισον] or anneson [ἄννησον]) by con­fusion with with dill, which in Greek was known as aneton [ἄνητον].

Names of anise in virtually all European languages are derived from Latin anisum, with very little variation: The form anis is valid in a large number of languages, including Norwegian, Croatian, Finnish, Russian (written анис) Ukrainian (written аніс) and Hebrew (written אניס). Examples for names in other languages are Icelandic anís, Latvian anīss, Hungarian ánizs Czech anýz, Polish anyż, Estonian aniis, Italian anice, Romanian anason, Arabic al-yansun [اليانسون], Urdu anisuan [انیسواں] and Farsi anisun [انیسون].

Sanskrit shatapushpa [शतपुष्प] literally means a hundred flowers and probably refers to the flower cluster (umbel). The Sanskrit name was also applied to related plants, and some modern languages have borrowed the term from Sanskrit in non-compatible meanings. For example, thian-sattapusa [เทียนสัตตบุษย์] is the name of anise fruits in Thai herbal medicine, but Telugu shatapushpamu [శతపుష్పము] and Sinhala shatapushpa [ශතපුෂ්ප] both mean dill.

Anise umbel

The Hindi na­me saunf [सौंफ] pro­per­ly de­notes fennel, which anise is thought to be a foreign variety of and which is often used inter­change­ably with anise. To dis­tin­guish anise clear­ly from fennel, the spe­cial­ized terms patli saunf [पतली सौंफ] thin fennel or vilayati saunf [विलायती सौंफ] foreign fennel may be used.

Some languages name anise as a sweet variant of other, related spices; for example, Indonesian jinten manis and Arabic kamun halu [كمون حلو] both mean sweet cumin, a name which is also sometimes heard in English. Arabic has another, similar name habbu al-hulwa [حبة الحلوة] sweet grains. Portuguese erva doce sweet herb may denote anise, fennel or occasionally other sweet plants like sweetleaf (Stevia rebaudiana).

In regions where anise is less common than star anise, it may be denoted as a smaller or grainy variant of the latter. Examples include Vietnamese hat hoi [hạt hồi] grain-shaped star anise, Farsi badiyan romi [بادیان رومی] Roman star anise (where Rome just stands for the West, or Europe) and Uzbek arpa-bodiyon [арпабодиён] barley-like star anise. Selected Links

Indian Spices: Anise Seeds (indianetzone.com) A Pinch of Anise (www.apinchof.com) The Epicentre: Anise Medical Spice Exhibit: Anise Transport Information Service: Anisseed Pflanzen des Capitulare de Villis: Anis (biozac.de) chemikalienlexikon.de: Anethol chemikalienlexikon.de: Anisaldehyde

Anise plant

In Western cuisine, anise is mostly re­stricted to bread and cakes; oc­casion­ally, fruit products are aro­ma­tized with anise. In small dosage, anise seeds are some­times con­tained in spice mixtures for sausages and stews. Their main ap­plica­tions are, how­ever, anise-flavoured liquors, of which there are many in different Medi­terranean coun­tries: Rakı in Turkey, Ouzo [Ούζο] in Greece and Pernod in France; see also mugwort on absinthe. In many cases, oil of anise is sub­stituted by oil of star anise in these products, at least partially.

In the East, anise is less known, fennel and star anise being more easily available and more popular. Anise may substitute fennel in Northern Indian recipes, but it is a less suited substitute for star anise in Chinese foods.

Anise appears occasionally in Mexican recipes, but I am not sure whether Mexican cooks would use it when and if their native anise-flavoured herbs (Mexican tarragon and Mexican pepper-leaf) are available. Anyway, anise is an acceptable substitute for both, although tarragon is even better.

Several plants exemanate an aroma comparable to that of anise. Within the Apiaceae (parsley family), both fennel and cicely copy anise’s aroma quite perfectly; to a lesser extent, chervil and dill also resemble anise, although their anise fragrance is not that pure as in the former mentioned plants. See cicely for a larger list of anise-scented plants.