Green Anise

Anise or Pimpinella anisum, also known as Green Anise, Cultivated Anise or Musk Anise, is an annual herbaceous plant. It is grown as a condiment plant for its highly aromatic leaves and seeds, which enhance and flavour salads, sauces, and slow-cooked dishes.

This plant, which measures between 40 and 80 cm (16 and 32in) in height, has an upright habit with hollow and hairy stems. The leaves have various shapes, with heart-shaped ones at the base and deeply divided ones higher up.

The flowers are small, white, and grouped in umbellules, which are in turn grouped in umbels. The fruits produced are grey-green, small, dry, and ovoid. They are slightly ribbed and pubescent like the stems.

This spice is widely used as fresh or dried leaves in salads, marinades or  sauces for meat and fish, while the seeds are used to flavour jams.

Anise fruits contain molecules such as sesquiterpenes, phenolic acids, and an essential oil based on anethole. Its use helps to fight digestive disorders, acts as an antibacterial, expectorant, antispasmodic, and carminative stimulant, and when used externally, has antifungal properties.

Harvesting: during the harvest season pick the leaves as needed, and gather the seeds at the end of summer, beginning of autumn.

Storage: it is possible to store anise leaves and seeds after drying them in the shade and grinding them into powder, in airtight containers.

Gardener's tip: anise tolerates sunlight and heat and can be placed in sunny areas of the vegetable garden. If your soil is too compact, don't hesitate to amend it with sand, compost, and topsoil. It is a plant often used to repel aphids, caterpillars, and grubs.