Star anise (Illicium verum) is a key ingredient in Chinese five-spice powder. It is the dried star-shaped fruit pods of the mid-sized evergreen Illicium verum tree. The tree belongs to the Schisandraceae family. Star anise differs from anise (Pimpinella anisum) and is from the parsley family (Apiaceae). The tree is a native of Southwest China and Northeast Vietnam. It is also found in Arunachal Pradesh in India, Laos, the Philippines, and Jamaica. Both star anise and anise yield anethole, a type of essential oil. Both spices are used to flavor drinks and confectionery.
The Chinese star anise should be distinguished from the Japanese star anise, a different species—Illicium anisatum. The Japanese species is highly toxic. Sometimes, Chinese star anise tea products are contaminated with Japanese star anise, making them unsafe for human consumption. Once in powder form, it isn't easy to distinguish between them by just looking at them. The toxicity of Japanese star anise is attributed to the presence of sikkimictoxin.
In 2003, the US FDA 2003 issued an advisory on the consumption of star anise tea. Tea contaminated with the Japanese anise is suspected to cause neurological symptoms. Nevertheless, the US FDA has given Star Anise, as a spice, the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) certificate. Some believe these spicy teas are beneficial and may help in indigestion. Still, others associate it with seizures, vomiting, and aggressive behavior.
Food
Whole Chinese star anise is used in soups and teas in China and Southeast Asia. It is also used to flavor baked dishes. It gives a licorice flavor to dishes and is a popular spice in poultry food. It is used both as a whole and in the ground form.
Thai iced tea, brewed from black tea, is often flavored with star anise powder, cinnamon, licorice, vanilla, and orange blossoms. In India, the spice is sometimes added to garam masala, a spice mix used across South Asia, Persia, and Indonesia.
Essential Oil
The essential oil is produced by steam-extracting fresh and partly dried fruits. The oil is clear and colorless to pale yellow. It is aromatic and has a sweet and pleasant fragrance like anise’s. It is said to relax, improve sleep patterns, and reduce tiredness. The oil blends well with bay, cardamom, coriander, dill, cedarwood orange, and other natural oils. It is highly fragrant. It is used in cooking, perfumery, soaps, toothpaste, mouthwashes, and skin creams. The Japanese star anise, which is highly toxic, is burnt for its fragrance.
Medicinal Use
90% of the star anise crop is used to extract shikimic acid, a chemical ingredient of the bird flu vaccine oseltamivir, most commonly known as Tamiflu.
In traditional Chinese medicine, star anise is regarded as beneficial in relieving ailments associated with cold. The spice is prescribed to aid digestion, promote the health of female reproductive organs, improve lactation in mothers, and is used in cough mixtures, as a diuretic, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal medicine, as well as to alleviate respiratory ailments. The species is also used in natural breath fresheners. A compound, linalool, present in the spice contains antioxidant properties.
In comparison with insecticidal compounds like deltamethrin and hydramethylnon, which are effective, Illium verum (star anise) is a naturally occurring insect control agent rich in anethole molecules. The experiments revealed that naturally occurring agents were effective in containing populations of Blattella germanica, a German cockroach species. The antimicrobial properties are evident; anethole, isolated from the dried fruit of star anise, was also found to be potent against bacterial, yeast, and fungal strains (De et al., 2002). Scientists have repeatedly validated the antimicrobial properties of star anise. A word of caution, the spice is known to cause convulsions in children and should not be consumed by them (Campos, G., et al., 2002). Therefore, many jurisdictions have cautioned consumers to consume this spice with care. Others, like the US FDA, have issued advisories against the herb. The common perception that plant-based products are harmless is not supported by modern scientific evidence.
Planting and gardening
Star anise is propagated from seeds or cuttings. It is a sub-tropical plant. The optimum time for sowing is when temperatures are around 18 to 20 degrees Celsius (65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit). The seeds are directly sown in the garden. You can also get a seedling from a nursery. Star anise plants can also be grown in a container in regions with particularly severe winters.
The star anise tree grows to a height of five meters. The plants prefer to grow in side shade or partial shade. It prefers loamy, well-drained, slightly acidic soils. It likes to be lightly watered. It is a relatively slow-growing plant that takes at least 2,000 days to yield fruit. It is a sub-tropical evergreen tree that starts flowering around the sixth year.
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