SC - Aniuise per Gernot Katzer

[Nick Sasso]

[ Plant part | Family | Aroma | Constituents | Origin | Discussion |
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Anis (Pimpinella anisum L.)

Synonyms
      pharm
               Fructus Anisi 
      Amharic
               Insilal 
      Arabic
               Yanisum 
      Bengali
               Sulpha 
      Chinese
               Yan kok, Pa chio, Huei hsiang 
      Danish
               Grøn anis 
      Dutch
               Anijs, Wilde pimpernel, Nieszaad, Groene anijs 
      English
               Sweet cumin, Aniseed 
      Esperanto
               Anizo, Anizujo 
      Estonian
               Harilik aniis 
      Farsi
               Anisun 
      Finnish
               Anis 
      Finnish
               Anisruoho 
      French
               Anis vert, Boucage 
      Frisian
               Anys 
      German
               Anis 
      Hebrew
               Shamir 
      Hindi
               Saunf, Patli saunf, Vilayati saunf 
      Hungarian
               Ánizs 
      Icelandic
               Anís 
      Indonesian
               Jinten manis 
      Italian
               Anice, Anice verde 
      Marathi
               Shauf 
      Norwegian
               Anis 
      Polish
               Biedrzeniec anyz 
      Portuguese
               Anis, Anis verde 
      Portuguese
               Erva doce 
      Romanian
               Anis 
      Russian
               Anis 
      Sanskrit
               Shatpushpa 
      Spanish
               Anís, Matalahuga 
      Swedish
               Anis 
      Tagalog
               Anis 
      Turkish
               Anason 
      Vietnamese
               Cay vi 


Used plant part
     Fruit. 

Plant family
     Apiaceae (parsley family). 

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

Main constituents
     The aroma of the essential oil (up to 3% in the fruits) is
dominated by
     trans-anethol (max. 90%). Additional aroma components are estragol
     (iso-anethol, 2%), anis aldehyd (less than 1%), anis alcohol,
     p-methoxy-acetophenone, pinene, limonene, gamma-himachalene (2%).
An
     unusual compound is the phenol ester
     4-methoxy-2-(1-propene-yl)-phenol-2-methyl-butyrate, which is
characteristic
     for anis (5%).
     Older books (e.g., Melchior and Kastner) mention that anis,
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 anis bisquit. 

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
     anis and fennel (see below). Therefore, the same name is usually
given to both
     of them. On the Philippines, star anis, there a popular spice, is
referred to as
     "anis", too. 

Etymology
     The spice got its name by confusion with dill (Greek áneeson or
áneeton).
     Sanskrit shatpushpa literally means "a hundred flowers" and
probably refers to
     the flower cluster (umbel).

     The Hindi name saunf properly denotes fennel, which anis is thought
to be a
     foreign variety of and which is often used interchangeably with
anis. To
     distinguish anis clearly from fennel, the adjectives patli "thin"
or vilyati "foreign"
     may be used.

     The Portuguese name erva doce "sweet herb" is used for both the
fresh herb
     and the dried seeds.