Star Anise

Well, star anise definitely wins the prize for being the best-looking spice. This beautiful mahogany-coloured, dried fruit has eight petal-like compartments that each store a tiny, shiny seed.

Star anise is actually the unripened fruit of a small tree that is native to China, which is still the major producer of the spice today. Its name in Chinese means ’eight quarters’, although, like a magic clover, you can find lucky 12-pointed ones. The smell and taste is intense aniseed, which lends itself to so many different cuisines around the world. Star anise is one of the major components in Chinese 5 spice and is one of the ’big’ flavours used in any slow-braised meat dishes. In Indian cooking, it is ground into a powder and mixed with other spices to make garam masala. In Vietnam, the aniseed flavour adds a fresh note to the stock of their prized national soup dish Pho. In the West, star anise is often used in fusion cooking, and it works particularly well in a sugar syrup drizzled over poached pears or peaches.