Is anise the same as star anise?

No. Anise (Pimpinella anisum) is a small umbellifer seed. Star anise (Illicium verum) is the dried fruit of a Chinese evergreen tree. Both contain anethole and share the licorice aroma, but they are unrelated botanically.

Is anise safe in pregnancy?

Anise seed used in food, and weak anise tea, are generally considered safe. Concentrated essential oil and high-dose extracts should be avoided in pregnancy because of estrogenic activity.

How is anise tea best prepared?

Lightly crush 1 tsp seeds to release the oils, pour over 1 cup just-boiled water, cover and steep 10 minutes. Covering matters — the active compounds are volatile and will escape with the steam if left open.

Chapter 1 of 10

Anise

The Essentials

If you've ever wanted something warm after a meal, anise is the sweet, licorice-scented seed Persian households reach for. The habit has chemistry behind it: trans-anethole has documented carminative (traditionally used to settle gas and bloating) effects on the gut, and a lighter expectorant (helps loosen mucus so you can cough it up) action on the chest.

The same seed appears as a folk remedy for cough and colic across Persia, the Mediterranean and the Levant. Stay with the seed itself — the concentrated essential oil (the concentrated aromatic oil of the plant) is avoided in pregnancy and in infants.

Anise seed has been cultivated around the Mediterranean and Persian plateau since ancient times. The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus and Avicenna's Canon both describe it as a warming digestive and breathing aid. Its main aromatic compound, trans-anethole, gives it the familiar sweet, licorice-like flavor and underlies most of its modern pharmacology.

Known to botanists as Pimpinella anisum.