Anise seed (with recipe)

The dainty anise plant produces seeds of a most pungent nature. Native to the Near East, from whence it spread to Europe and America, anise seed has for centuries been valued by the cake and cookie maker; Romans chased down their feasts with anise cakes that were purported to aid digestion. Besides its pleasant licorice flavor, anise seed tea (1 teaspoon seeds to 2 cups boiling water) claims medicinal qualities for itself as a carminative and a reliever of coughing and asthma. Oil of anise is commonly used commercially in cough medicines.

          Useful for sweetening the breath, treating flatulence, and increasing mother’s milk, anise seed can be ground and used as a tea or taken in tincture form. Anise seeds are the essential ingredient of the liqueur anisette, a few drops of which will lend an exotic flair to your demitasse of espresso.

          Star anise is the seed of a magnolia-type tree found in southern China and, strangely enough, it yields an aroma and oil identical to that of the anise plant. Some connoisseurs claim, however, that the odor of star anise is the more pungent of the two. Certainly star anise is beautiful-the dried pod is shaped like a star, and each of its sections partially enclose one tiny seed. In Asia it is sometimes regarded as a good luck charm.

          Should you have a yen to emulate the gourmets of ancient Rome, try these anise wafers as a fitting finish for a heavy dinner.

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ANISE WAFERS

½ cup sugar (preferably raw sugar)

3 teaspoons anise seed

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 egg

2 tablespoons brandy (or lemon juice)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·        Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil cookie sheets.

·   Put sugar and anise seed in a blender and grind to a powder. Cream sugar-anise powder with the butter. Beat in egg and brandy. Sift in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well. Shape into a ball, wrap in a wax paper or plastic, and chill for 30 minutes.

·     Roll out on a floured board to ¹/₈-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until brown.

·        Makes about 60 cookies.