star anise

origin: China

##new star anise powder now in stock##

Aesthetically beautiful and with a sweet, powerful aniseed and scent and flavour with elements of liquorice, star anise are widely used in Chinese cooking

uses: Add whole star anise to flavour a noodle soup or to a spicy stew. Add a couple of star anise to the braising liquid for pork or beef, especially good with ginger, garlic and soy.

The Best Everyday Use for Star Anise:

Make Star Anise Chicken - sweet, delicious and fragrant!

Just caramelise 1tbsp sugar, add a few slices of fresh ginger and 4 star anise. Add skinless chicken portions on the bone, stir to colour then add 1tbsp soy sauce and a splash of water. Cover and cook for 20 mins

Spice Notes

origin: southern china and Vietnam

Aesthetically beautiful, star anise has a naturally sweet, delicate yet powerful aniseed flavour. Possibly the most beautiful of the spices, star anise is the seed pod from an evergreen tree in the magnolia family and is harvested just before ripening.
Use whole and take out before serving or use as a powder. Powdered it is very potent so use sparingly to avoid overpowering the dish
Star anise one of the most important spices in Chinese cooking. With 8 a lucky number in China, the 8-pointed Star anise can be carried around in the pocket as a lucky charm.  Although it is also considered lucky if you find a star anise with more than 8 points... so who knows? Either way you’re lucky!
Star anise is used in the ground state as the main component of five spice powder and whole in stocks, sauces and braising liquids. The flavour of star anise is strong but in small amounts is used in many blends and even to flavour sweet spiced tea.
In the west it is largely seen as being limited to liquors etc, or as a cheaper replacement for aniseed and is found in sambuca and Galliano.

The seeds inside the stars can be used on their own, but as you can imagine, extracting them would be quite labour intensive!

Medicinal Properties

A warming, moving spice used in Chinese medicine
Used in tea as a remedy for rheumatism.
Used in Chinese medicine as an expectorant for thousands of year, the shikimic acid extracted from star anise is a chief ingredient in tamiflu.

Uses

• Add whole star anise to flavour a noodle soup or to a spicy stew. Add a couple of star anise to the braising liquid for pork or beef, especially good with ginger, garlic and soy.

• Poach chicken in coconut milk, star anise, a few kaffir lime leaves, chunks of ginger and maybe a few whole chillies. Shred chicken over the broth and some noodles.

• Good addition to poaching fruit. Especially apples, plums, pears. Add star anise alongside some orange zest. Can also add ground star anise to yogurt to serve with fruits.

• Pinch to Chinese stir fries

• Slow cooked meat – add 2 or 3 star anise along with cinnamon stick, bay leaves, whole peppercorns. Braising meats in European dishes, slow cooked meat dishes – adds a savoury, indistinguishable flavour

• Key in Chinese style ‘red’ cooking.