Star anise

The eight-pointed woody seed pod of a Chinese evergreen — sweet, warm and strongly of liquorice — the spice behind Chinese braised pork, Vietnamese pho and five-spice powder, and a cheaper source of the flavour of anise.

Where it comes from

Star anise comes from a small tree of southern China and northern Vietnam and has been used in Chinese cooking for millennia; it reached Europe in the sixteenth century by way of an English sailor and was quickly taken up by liqueur-makers. Its flavour compound, anethole, is the same one in aniseed, fennel and liquorice, and star anise supplies most of the anethole used in the world’s anise-flavoured drinks and sweets, because it is far cheaper to grow than aniseed.

In the kitchen it is a braising spice. A pod or two in a pot of soy-braised pork, a beef pho broth, a Chinese red-cooked chicken or a poaching syrup for fruit gives a warm, sweet depth without any obvious liquorice taste; ground, it is one of the five in five-spice powder. Aniseed — the small ridged seed of a Mediterranean plant — tastes similar but is used in baking and drinks rather than braising, and fennel seed carries the same note more gently.

Varieties

• Whole star anise — Rust-brown eight-pointed pods with a glossy seed in each point. Used whole and removed; the flavour is in the pod more than the seed.
• Ground star anise — Strong and quick to fade; in five-spice and some Vietnamese and Indian blends.
• Aniseed (anise) — The small oval seed of Pimpinella anisum; sweeter, more delicate. In biscuits, breads and liqueurs — ouzo, raki, sambuca, pastis.
• Fennel seed — Milder, greener anethole flavour. In Italian sausage, Indian panch phoron and Chinese five-spice.

In the kitchen

One or two whole pods for a pot. Add them at the start of a braise, a stock or a syrup and take them out before serving; they are woody and inedible. Toasted briefly in dry oil they release more aroma. Star anise pairs with soy, ginger, cinnamon and orange peel — the palette of Chinese braising — and with pears, plums and rhubarb in a poaching syrup.

It is potent: a broken pod’s worth is often enough, and a dish that tastes of liquorice has had too much. Ground, it dominates a blend; five-spice is the balance of star anise against cinnamon, clove, Sichuan pepper and fennel.

Choosing and keeping

Buy whole pods, unbroken, deep rust in colour and fragrant. They keep a year or more sealed; broken bits and dust have lost most of their oil.

Chinese star anise is the culinary one. Japanese star anise, a look-alike, is toxic and is not sold as food, but adulteration has occurred in herbal teas — buy from a reputable food source.

Star anise is tagged on 151 dishes from 88 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.