Anise is a plant whose seeds and flowers are both widely used for cooking, native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. It has a sweet flavour, similar to that of fennel seeds with a slight aftertaste of mint and liquorice. In fact, it belongs to the same aromatic plant group as these products, all of which contain a substance called anethole.
It is a powerful sweetener 13 times stronger than sucrose, without ever being too sickly. It is used to aromatize alcoholic drinks, cakes and pastries and is also employed in food maturing processes and in oral hygiene products.
Here we have a number of delicious anise food pairings, with tips on how to combine the flavour of its seeds with other ingredients in the preparation of some amazing dishes.
Classical pairings