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Anise
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Pimpinella
Species:	P. anisum
Binomial name
Pimpinella anisum L.

Anise (Pimpinella anisum, also anís (stressed on the second syllable) and aniseed) is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. It is known for its flavor, which resembles liquorice, fennel and tarragon.

Biology

Anise is an herbaceous annual plant growing to 3 ft (0.91 m) tall. The leaves at the base of the plant are simple, 0.5–2 in (1.3–5.1 cm) long and shallowly lobed, while leaves higher on the stems are feathery pinnate, divided into numerous leaves. The flowers are white, approximately 3 mm diameter, produced in dense umbels. The fruit is an oblong dry schizocarp, 3 – 5 mm long. It is these seedpods that are referred to as "aniseed".^[1]

Anise is used as food by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths), including the lime-speck pug and wormwood pug.

Cultivation

Anise plants grow best in light, fertile, well drained soil. The seeds should be planted as soon as the ground warms up in spring. Because the plants have a taproot, they do not transplant well after being established, so they should be started either in their final location or transplanted while the seedlings are still small.^[2]

Production

Western cuisines have long used anise as a moderately popular herb to flavor some dishes, drinks, and candies, and so the word has come to connote both the species of herb and the licorice-like flavor. The most powerful flavor component of the essential oil of anise, anethole, is found in both anise and an unrelated spice called star anise. Featured prominently in South Asian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian dishes, star anise is considerably less expensive to produce, and has gradually displaced the 'original' anise in Western markets. While formerly produced in larger quantities, by 1999 world production of the essential oil of anise was only 8 tonnes, compared to 400 tonnes from star anise.^[3]

Uses

Anise seeds

Culinary

Anise is sweet and very aromatic, distinguished by its licorice-like flavor.^[4] The seeds, whole or ground, are used in a wide variety of regional and ethnic confectioneries, including Greek stuffed vine leaves (dolma), British aniseed balls, Australian humbugs, New Zealand aniseed wheels, Italian pizzelle, German Pfeffernusse and springerle, Netherland muisjes, Norwegian knotts, and Peruvian picarones. It is a key ingredient in Mexican "atole de anís" or champurrado, which is similar to hot chocolate, and taken as a digestive after meals in India.

Liquor

Anise is used to flavor the Arab arak, the Colombian aguardiente, the French spirits absinthe, anisette, and pastis, the Greek ouzo and Eastern European mastika, the German Jägermeister, the Italian sambuca, the Peruvian anís (liqueur), and the Turkish raki. It is believed to be one of the secret ingredients in the French liqueur Chartreuse. It is also used in some root beer, such as Virgil's in the United States.

Medicinal

• Anise, like fennel, contains anethole, a phytoestrogen.^[5]
• Anise is a mild antiparasitic and its leaves can be used to treat digestive problems, relieve toothache, and its essential oil to treat lice and scabies.
• Anise can be used to relieve menstrual cramps.^[6]

Miscellaneous

• In aromatherapy, aniseed essential oil is used to treat colds and flu.
• According to Pliny the Elder, anise was used as a cure for sleeplessness, chewed with alexanders and a little honey in the morning to freshen the breath, and when mixed with wine as a remedy for scorpion stings (N.H. 20.72).
• In Indian cuisine, no distinction is made between anise and fennel. Therefore, the same name (saunf) is usually given to both of them. Some use the term patli (thin) saunf or velayati (foreign) saunf to distinguish anise from fennel.
• In the Middle East, water is boiled with about a tablespoon of aniseed per teacup to make a special hot tea called Yansoon.
• Builders of steam locomotives in Britain incorporated capsules of aniseed oil into white metal plain bearings, so that the distinctive smell would give warning in case of overheating.^[7]
• Aniseed is the flavour of "Black Jack" gum and Nigeria's "Tom Tom" candy.
• Anise can be made into a liquid scent and is used for both hunting and fishing. It is put on fishing lures to attract fish.^{[citation needed]}
• Anethole, the principal component of anise oil, is a precursor that can eventually produce 2,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde which can be used in the clandestine synthesis of psychedelic drugs such as 2C-B, 2C-I and DOB.^[8]

Notes

External links

• Anise medicinal uses, active ingredients, and additional details
• Detailed information about usage of Anise

From LoveToKnow 1911

From BibleWiki

This word is found only in Mt 23:23. It is the plant commonly known by the name of dill, the Peucedanum graveolens of the botanist. This name dill is derived from a Norse word which means to soothe, the plant having the carminative property of allaying pain. The common dill, the Anethum graveolens, is an annual growing wild in the cornfields of Spain and Portugal and the south of Europe generally. There is also a species of dill cultivated in Eastern countries known by the name of shubit. It was this species of garden plant of which the Pharisees were in the habit of paying tithes. The Talmud requires that the seeds, leaves, and stem of dill shall pay tithes. It is an umbelliferous plant, very like the caraway, its leaves, which are aromatic, being used in soups and pickles. The proper anise is the Pimpinella anisum.

what mentions this? (please help by turning references to this page into wiki links)

Anise (Matt., xxiii, 23) has been, since Wyclif, the rendering of anethon in the English Versions, But this is not accurate. The exact equivalent of the plant anethon is dill (anethum graveolens), while anise corresponds to the pimpinella anisum. The error in translation, however, is of no great importance, both plants belonging to the parsley family (umbelliferoe), and sharing many properties in common. The dill is an annual plant, "with finely striated stems, usually one foot to one foot and a half in height, pinnate leaves with setaceous linear segments, and yellow flowers" (Enc. Bib.). The Jews used it as a condiment. It is mentioned several times in Rabbinic literature, especially in connection with the question of tithes. Beside the articles specified in the Mosaic Law, the Rabbis had, in course of time, subjected to tithe many other objects, extending the prescription to all products of the earth that were esculent and could be preserved.