SC - Anise, Fennel (and a bit of dill)

[Jenne Heise]

> As you will see on the link to that page, there are over 40 species of 
> plants in the Anise family.  STAR ANISE is the one we most commonly think 
> of when we think of ANISE.  I suspect the other speices are left to grow in 
> the wild or are not widely cultivated, so that we need not worry about them 
> much!  :)

Um, I'm afraid that 'STAR ANISE' is really NOT the same as what we usually
think of as anise. Star Anise is the fruit of a tropical plant that is
used in Chinese cooking but generally NOT used in modern Western cooking.
(The fruits are five sided and look like stars.)

True anise seed and fennel seed are distinct, and they are NOT being sold
as one another, though fennel ROOT/STEMS are being marketed as 'anise' for
some reason in some groceries.

The anise seed you buy in stores and use in western cooking and in comfits
is the seed of the anise plant, an annual that thrives in temperate
climates such as the Northeastern United states.

Anise plant is less finely cut and fernlike than fennel, which generally
looks a lot like those little hairy ferns that people grow as houseplants.
Not all fennel forms the root bulb that is being sold as fennel (or
sometimes as anise) root. But no anise forms that bulb.

Fennel and anise both taste of licorice but they are very different.
Fennel seed is hard to find (except in health food stores, which sell it
as a tea for dieting).

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
	"Scratch a lover and find a foe." -- Dorothy Parker