How to Use Anise
The Timeless Spice
Licorice-like | Sweet | Warm | Herbal
With its unmistakable licorice-like aroma and sweet, warming flavor, anise famously shines in breads, desserts, candies, teas, and liqueurs. But don’t be afraid to venture beyond—its bold character also plays well with fish, veggies, and fatty meats.
COOKING TIPS
- You don't need much. Just a few seeds can brighten a dish with crisp clarity. Anise balances rich, creamy dishes by cutting through fat, cheese, or grease with its delicate sweetness and refreshing bite.
- It's best to use whole anise and add it at the beginning of the cooking process. For example, coat poultry or root vegetables with some aniseeds, complimentary spices, and salt prior to baking.
- Anise is perhaps most widely used in sweet baked goods, but it pairs just as wonderfully with lentils, fish, lamb, and pork, especially in slow-cooked stews. There are tons of opportunities for creativity.
GRINDING
- Aniseeds are so small, and they crush so easily, that grinding isn't really necessary. They're best used whole, which makes them rather convenient. Their slightly rough texture also adds an enjoyable crunch to a dish's mouthfeel.
- However, if you need the flavor to be quickly and evenly dispersed, use an electric grinder to create a fine, uniform powder.
- This is most important for baking (where whole seeds may disrupt the texture), spice blends (where a smooth consistency is key), and meat rubs or marinades (where ground spices penetrate better).
TOASTING & FRYING
- You can dry-roast whole aniseeds on low heat to heighten their aroma and make them more brittle.
- You can also lightly fry them in oil. Here's why you may want to: anise's primary flavor compound, anethole, ignites our sweetness receptors, making it seem 13 times sweeter than sugar. However, anethole doesn’t dissolve in water, so you need a little alcohol or fat to amplify its presence. Gently fry aniseeds in a little oil or butter before mixing into the rest of the dish. You can also drizzle it over lentils or vegetables.
- In a hot liquid-based dish, you can add alcohol like rice wine or fermented soy sauce to release the anethole and disperse it throughout.
STORING
- Since the most desirable, delicate top notes of any spice quickly dissipate once ground, it's best to buy and store whole anise in an airtight container in a cool, dry, dark place and grind it as needed.
- Buying pre-ground anise is a waste unless you plan to use it all in a month, as most of the flavor and medicinal potency will have vanished.
- If stored properly in these conditions, whole anise will keep for up to 3 years before its flavor starts to fade significantly. Of course, the fresher the better, so you should try to replenish it at least every year, but storing whole anise will afford you much more flavor and shelf life.
Italian Biscotti