the.com/aniseed
the flavor that licorice, ouzo, and your grandmother's hard candy all secretly agree on
means The small seed-like fruit of the anise plant, used as a spice prized for its sweet, licorice-like flavor.
from From Old French 'anis,' which came through Latin 'anisum' from Greek 'anison' — the name the Greeks gave the plant. The 'seed' part was simply tacked on in English, a habit speakers fell into to make clear they meant the little flavor-packed fruits rather than the whole herb. Confusingly, the Greeks sometimes muddled anise with dill, so the ancient names blur together a bit, but the plant we now call anise carries the older word forward.
- Same molecule
- Anethole gives anise, fennel, and star anise identical taste
- Not related
- Star anise comes from a totally different plant family
- Tamiflu source
- Star anise yields the base for flu antiviral drugs
- Cloudy trick
- Anethole turns ouzo milky when water hits it
- Ancient breath
- Romans baked it into cake to settle stomachs
pernod — french anise-flavored spirit, 90% of french pastis market, founded 1805
ouzo — greek anise liqueur, protected designation of origin, over 200 distilleries in greece
star anise — illicium verum spice from vietnam and china, main ingredient in chinese five-spice powder