The star-shaped dried fruit of a Chinese evergreen, with a sweet liquorice flavour from anethole. Essential to five-spice and pho, but beware its toxic lookalike, Japanese star anise.
What it is¶
Star anise is the dried fruit of Illicium verum, a small evergreen tree. Each fruit is a star of woody boat-shaped carpels, usually eight, sometimes fewer or more, and each point holds a single shiny brown seed. The fruits are picked unripe and dried until rust-brown and hard.
Despite the name and the flavour, it is unrelated to aniseed, which comes from a small annual in the carrot family. The two taste alike because both are rich in the same aromatic compound, anethole. Star anise is cheaper to produce, so it has largely replaced aniseed in industrial flavourings and in many anise-flavoured spirits.
Origins and history¶
The tree is native to southern China and northern Vietnam and has been used in Chinese cooking and medicine for a very long time. It reached Europe in the late sixteenth century, arriving via overland and later maritime trade, and became a flavouring for syrups, liqueurs and confectionery rather than a mainstream cooking spice.
In the early 2000s star anise briefly became a strategic commodity. Its seeds are a rich natural source of shikimic acid, the starting material then used to manufacture the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and demand spiked during the bird-flu scares of 2005–06. Other production routes have since reduced that dependence.
Flavour and aroma¶
Sweet, intense and unmistakably liquorice-like, with a warm, faintly bitter, woody edge from the carpels. It is stronger than aniseed, and a single star can perfume a large pot. In long-cooked savoury dishes the liquorice note softens and fuses with soy, meat and onion into something rounder and deeper; many cooks who dislike liquorice find they enjoy it there.
In the kitchen¶
Star anise is most at home in slow, braised, savoury dishes.
- Chinese cooking. It is one of the defining spices of five-spice powder and of hong shao (red-cooking), in which pork belly, beef or chicken is braised with soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, ginger and star anise. It flavours master stocks, tea eggs and char siu marinades. See chinese-cuisine.
- Vietnamese pho. Toasted star anise, cinnamon or cassia, cloves, black cardamom and charred onion and ginger give pho broth its aroma. See vietnamese-cuisine.
- India. It turns up in biryanis, some versions of garam masala, and Chettinad cooking.
- Sweet uses. Poached pears and plums, mulled wine (see mulling-spice), syrups, jams and custards. One star in a pan of poaching syrup is plenty.
Two stars for a braise serving four is typical; for pho, three to five stars in a large pot of stock. Toasting the stars in a dry pan for a minute before adding liquid brightens them. Remove whole stars before serving: the carpels stay woody. When grinding, break the stars first; the powder is very strong, so start with a pinch.
Buying and storing¶
Whole stars keep their aroma for two years or more in an airtight jar. Look for large, unbroken, reddish-brown stars with a strong smell when snapped; broken pieces are fine for stocks and cheaper. Ground star anise loses its top notes within months, so grind small amounts as needed. See storing-spices.
Substitutes¶
aniseed is the closest match: about ½ tsp crushed aniseed for one star. Fennel seed is milder and sweeter; use a little more. Five-spice powder works in Chinese dishes but brings other flavours along.
Pairs well with¶
Soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cassia, cloves, Sichuan pepper, fennel, orange peel, pork, duck, beef, chicken, pears, plums, quince, chocolate, red wine.
Health and safety¶
⚠️ Japanese star anise is poisonous
Japanese star anise, Illicium anisatum, looks very similar to the culinary spice but contains anisatin and related neurotoxins that can cause vomiting, seizures and other serious symptoms. It is grown as an ornamental and used as incense in Japan, and it is not food.
There have been documented cases of culinary star anise contaminated with Japanese star anise, including incidents involving herbal teas. In 2003 the US Food and Drug Administration advised consumers not to drink teas brewed from star anise after reports of illness, some in infants. Star-anise tea has traditionally been given to babies for colic in some cultures, and health authorities advise against it.
The two species are hard to tell apart by eye. Japanese star anise tends to have smaller, more irregular, thinner and more sharply pointed carpels, and a smell more like cardamom or turpentine than sweet liquorice. Only buy star anise sold as food from a reputable supplier, and never forage ornamental Illicium. See poisonous-lookalikes and spice-adulteration.