What are Anise seeds?
Anise seeds carry the following names: anisum, Pimpinella, Sweet Caraway, Bread Seed, or Anais. These seeds are in use as a spice, as a medicinal plant for cough juice or brewing as tea. The aniseed plant is the medicinal plant of the year 2014 in Germany. Some people use anise seeds to relieve intestinal discomfort and cold symptoms. With us, you can buy the anise in our spices shop either in whole seeds or as ground anise.
Botany - Features of Anise. What does he look like?
The sweet cumin belongs to the family of the umbel family (Apiaceae) like dill, fennel, and cumin. It originates in the eastern Mediterranean, and it is a one-year-old plant with a growth height of up to 60 cm. Anise has upright stems that are low and heart-shaped leaves. Its flowers are umbels with small, white flowers. The bread seeds themselves are fission fruits of the herb, as they consist of two partial fruits. Its shape is round with five ribs, with a size of 4-5 mm and a yellow-grey color.
The cultivation of aniseed seeds
Anise seeds grow in large fields rather than in small gardens. Here in Germany, it can not thrive well, unless you prepare our loamy, heavy soil. The plant prefers loose, nutritious, and chalky soils. It also prefers subtropical climates and is therefore cultivated in South-South-Eastern Europe, North Africa, Southern Russia, India, and Egypt. Because the fruits on the shrubs do not ripen evenly, the Anais is harvested before reaching maturity and matures in warehouses. This prevents crop losses. Otherwise, mature anise seeds will detach from the plant and fall to the ground. After maturation, they are choked off and are suitable for consumption.
Anais and the Romans
Thanks to the Romans, Anise is a well-known spice that we use for cooking and as a natural remedy. Originally, Anise seeds were a baking ingredient. Anise cookies after meals aid digestion.
Culinary use - What does anise taste like?
Anise has a sweet aromatic scent and tastes like licorice. We use Anise mainly for baking cookies and cakes in the pre-Christmas period. It is used more widely in Southern Europe. Anise is used in Turkey for the production of Raki, in France for Pernod, and in Greece for Ouzo.
You can also cook Anise seed dishes. Anise is particularly suitable for refining fish soups, sauces, bread, cakes, legumes, and pumpkins.
You can flavor red cabbage or beetroot with Anise. It is tasty in fruit salads, fish marinades, cucumbers, or tea.
In India, they use Anise for baking bread and in hearty curry. You can also roast the Anise seeds to strengthen the aroma.
The oil of the Anise has antiseptic properties and therefore is in cough juices, and cough drops.
Anise blends very well with fennel, cardamom, garlic, cumin, poppy seeds, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, allspice, star anise, and cinnamon.
It refines on its own or in combination with the above spices apples, figs, fish, or seafood. Anise also flavors root vegetables and squashes.
