I was browsing through the spices section in my local indian grocery (as you do!) and came across a packet of aniseed. Not to be confused with star anise or fennel. Was just wondering how to use it and in what spice blends and what dishes it would suit.

Any ideas?

Liza

Liza

I don't know that aniseed is commonly used in Indian recipes...

I've come across the flavouring in Greek recipes (though usually based around the famous Ouzo drink that is used in AskCy's stifado recipe, on this website) and, of course, the French pastis drink.

But not really encountered it in Indian cooking.

Of course, mum (Mamta) will know best.

Kavey

Mum Doesn't always know best, but in this instance she does ;-)! This is something extensively used in India, so everyone knows :-), but not as fennel and anise, rathe as patli and moti sonf!

This is from the section on 'Healing foods' or 'Foods and Health', that I have been editting for a year (!) to add to this site. It has been written by my younger sister, collecting informaion from multiple sources. Both fennel and anise are known as sonf, just thick and thin sonf.

Anise Seed (Hindi name Saunf or sonf), Foeniculum vulgare, Shat-pushp in Sanskrit, is known in India as either ?patli saunf? (thin fennel) or ?vilayati sauf? (foreign fennel). Anise can be used in place of fennel, which is known as either ?moti saunf? (fat fennel) or ?desi saunf? (home grown fennel). There is often a confusion about anise and fennel, each getting mistaken for the other, because they look, smell and taste similar and some uses are interchangeable. Anise is used as a flavouring agent in various Indian sweets, drinks, spice mixes and curries. It is a digestive spice because it is soothing to the intestines and it has carminative (gas relieving) properties. Because of this reasons and it?s fresh flavour, it is used as an after dinner mouth freshener in India. Sugar coated ?saunf? in multiple colours is often served at Indian restaurants, following a meal.

Fennel (Hindi name Sonf), Foeniculum vulgare or dulce, Madhurika in Sanskrit, is a cooling spice, sweetish in taste. It is extremely good for digestion. That is why, it is often chewed on it?s own or as part of an after meal mouth freshening mixture, sometimes called ?Mukhwas?. Chewing fennel also helps to get rid of bad breath, specially after eating things like onions and garlic. It helps to reduces flatulence, heart burn and stops persistent sneezing; boil 2 heaped teaspoons in 2 cups of water, reduce it to half and strain. Take 1 tablespoon of the liquid every morning. In India, it is used to flavour curries, pickles, sweets and drinks, used both as seeds and as powder.

Oops, the 'italics' and 'bold' haven't worked properly! Never mind. I will do better when we have the 'preview facility working on the new Forum.

Mamta

I had always thought anise and aniseed were two different things!!!

No wonder I was confused!

THANKS MA!

Thanks for that guys, but is the curry recipe available with aniseed in it?

If you put saunf in my search window, you will get many recipes that use it. However, cooking will mostly use fennel or moti (fat) saunf. The delicate anise, patli (thin) saunf, is mostly used as mouth freshener, chewed.

It is a nice flavour and there is no reason why you shouldn't experiment adding it, coarsely ground or powder, to any curry you make. Try small amount, about 2 tsp. for a curry for 4, first.

Mamta

Don't think I've ever noticed Aniseed for sale (and I do browse spices and herbs when in shops... I even go into supermarkets and such when on holiday to get an idea of what is available in that country so I have some idea of what might be used when re-creating recipes when I get back home - like the Stifado recipe mentioned)

Steve

Aniseed

(fixed link)

Shucks, it didn't work :-(!

Tiny little seeds by the look of it?.. I think I remember them being in the middle of the sweets (toffee) aniseed balls when I was a child.

Steve

I buy online try this link steve www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/

Thanks Pauline

Steve

anise or aniseed is not an Indian spice. It is often confused with fennel seed, which may be referred to as 'Indian aniseed'.

cheers

Waaza

That is not entirely correct waza. Anise is 'patli/bareek saunf' in India or 'vilayati or foreign saunf' as my mum would call it and it is available all over India. Interestingly, Gernot Katzer's spice pages also say the same thing. It is much finer than the fennel that we use for cooking, has gentler, sweeter taste, and comes mainly from Lucknow and areas around it. My sister who lives in Lucknow, used to grow it in her garden. I still buy it in India every time I go there, because I can get it much fresher. It is used as mouth freshener.

Mamta

thanks Mamta,

if it is indeed true, I am in your debt.

However, I did not interpret what Gernot has written as 'available all over India', indeed I did not come across it in S India. Interesting that anise is known as 'foreign fennel', suggesting it is not an Indian spice (though this does not mean it isn't used in India). If it is indeed used around Lucknow, thats new to me, but whenever I have encountered anise in a recipe, it has always been fennel, the clue is that in nearly every Indian cookbook I have, either fennel or anise is mentioned, but not both, same with Indian growers' lists.

All the muckwash I have seen (and tasted) has had fennel in it, never anise.

Thanks again

Waaza

Hi wazza

You may be right here after all :-)! May be it is called vilayati/foreign saunf because it was imported from some where else a long time ago! Look at this site though; http://hashmi.com/aniseed.html, it tells you of it's use in Ayurvedic medicines. I know it is extensively used in home remedies, because i grew up with them. But I also know that it can be and often is replaced by fennel in India. In India, both fennel and anise are called saunf and mixed up with each other frequently, except for their size, fat and thin! This may be the reason why cook books often mention one or the other as interchangeable ingredients.

Fennel or 'moti/fat/desi saunf' is used mainly in cooking and pickling. No decent restaurant will serve it as a mukhwas. Anise or patli saunf has sweeter taste and flavvour, used in sweet thingsand it is available in most grocery shops in Northern India and Rajasthan etc. I buy it twice a year when I go there. Not sure about South India.

Search for patli saunf or anise on google.co.in. you may find some interesting observations.

I love discussions like these when the few remaining grey cells get stretched some what :-). It will be very interesting to find out if I have been using wrong name all along, we live and learn new things every day! So if you get any definitive answers, please do get back.

Mamta

thanks Mamta,

trying to solve some of the myriad of confusions is what makes life interesting, not only in cooking!!

I'll look into this spice again, as none of my Indian friends live (or have lived)in Lucknow.

I have three types of muckwash, and they all contain fennel seed. In Bangalore restaurants I was given paan with fennel seed.

I am also a little confused as in up thread you quote anise as being Foeniculum vulgare, which is fennel.

I'll have to take pics, and we can all choose our fennel :?)

Now to sort out shah jeera, bay leaf, caraway, onion seed, ajwain, dalchini.....

cheers

Waaza

Look forward to hearing from you waza. I know the rest of the things you mention in your last post, or at least I think I do ;-)!

You are correcet, I have given the wrong botanical name above, taken from a section about health and foods we will eventually add to this site. I will correcet the article now. Thank you for pointing it out.

Both are called 'shatpushpa' in Snaskrit and sometimes in Hindi, specially when mentioned in context of Ayurveda. Shat means hundreds (as far as i know) and pushpa means flowers.

Foeniculum vulgare = Moti saunf or fennel

Pimpinella anisum = Patli saunf or anise

Best wishes

Mamta

I had a look at this page of 'spicesofindia' mentioned upthread. They sell some of the Greenfields range. I have spoken in the past to the man who runs 'Greenfields', I think his name is Mohammed. He/they carry a range of what I would call Middle Eastern spices, like sumac and loomi (limoo?), and would think anise would fit in quite well with the range, but it would be a huge leap to assume because 'spicesofindia' sell anise, that it is an Indian spice.

I have found much confusion of spice names from spice purveyors, as well as culinary sources and general books on plants. The only sources I've found to be consistent are academic botanical institutes (in India and other countries). But there is a world of difference between spice crops grown on a huge scale for wholesale, and what I would term 'yard crops'. I think anise may fall into this latter group, as in 'grown and used by a few people'. Radhuni would belong here too, as perhaps would Kanthari white chillies.

cheers

Waaza

I think we are missing a word here - "traditional"...

You will find if you go back say 500 years spices were much more local to where they would grow and only the more important ones were traded about. However in this day and age with the ease of export and the new food boom spices from all over the World are now being used all over the World. So more modern versions of old recipes could easily include spices that were once considered to be "foreign".

Steve

undoubtedly true, Steve.

We are probably talking traditional cuisine, although I would say the Romans used spices, half of which were not indigenous to the Mediterranean. So I suppose my point is that the word anise is used (erroneously) to mean fennel, not 'to use anise as a substitute for fennel'.

Why import (presumeably at a higher price) a spice that can be found just around the corner? although I found caraway (called 'cake seed' on the packet)in Bangalore, obviously an import, but for what? Even in its own part of the world, it is rarely used as a straight spice. And do Indians import bay leaves, when they can use tej patta? I think not. Other examples exist.

cheers

Waaza

quote "Why import (presumeably at a higher price) a spice that can be found just around the corner?"

probably because we can.... ha ha

People will use things they prefer, are used to and in this weird modern age "aren't alergic to"

I mean I use sea salt (if I use salt) but I'm sure chemically made salt is made nearer than the sea salt is harvested, I use olive oil from Greece rather than local lard, use oregano from turkey (as thats where the shop gets it) rather than grow my own, tahini from Greece and Turkey etc etc... its just the way the World has gone....

Steve

I see I've opened up a friendly "can of worms" here.

I just love the way these threads vere off on tangents...

very entertaining!

liza

its the Spice of Life... lol

Steve

thanks kennyliza,

if it starts a debate that we can all learn from, I reckon that's what these forums are for, as long as we subscribe to the rules!

Mamta, I have seen reference to Lucknow fennel, where it suggests there is fennel available around Lucknow which is finer (and more desireable) than ordinary fennel seed. Any comments? And what is the climate like around Lucknow, does it have any influence from the Himalya?

cheers

Waaza

Hi Wazza

Lucknow fennel is anise as far as I understand the difference, but I could be wrong!

Lucknow, the ciury famous for it's Nawabs and their cuisine. It is in North India, it is very hot in summer, in 40's sometimes, and cold in winters, around 2-3C sometimes.

Mamta

Hi. This is my first post on this excellent site.

I was at a mixed wedding in Howarth last weekend (Bengali Sikh and Yorkshire). The food was fantastic, but I was surprised to eat some Tandoori Chicken that had been cooked with fennel. I assume it was a part of the marinade. This was by far the best tandoori dish that I've ever eaten.

Is the use of fennel usual in a tandoori marinade? It certainly will be in mine for a while!

fennel is one of the 'signature spices' of the region (whichever that is), and is common in Kashmir, along with black cumin (not kalonji) and ginger powder.

Blakc cumin is called 'kala jeera'.

Black=kala

Cumin=jeera

except in Bengal, where 'black cumin' refers to kalonji, an ingredient in panch phoran, and incorrectly called wild black onion seed. True Kashmiri kala jeera is [i]Bunium [/i]persicum, and is not to be confused with caraway, which is often quoted in recipes when kala jeera should be used.

Waaza

Hi Wazza

Blak jeera is not same as Kalaunji, which is quite different looking than Black Jeera. Kalaunji is Nigella sativa; http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Nige_sat.html?style=&query=kalaunji. Confusion arises because in some Indian languages like Sanskrit, Kalaunji is called Krishna-Jeera. The word Krishna is also the name of a Hindu God who was quite dark (long story!), and is often used to described things that are dark in colour.

Kala Jeera/Black cumin, http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Buni_per.html, is not a part of pooran/Phoran, Kalaunji or Nigella is.

Black Cumin is often used in rich, creamy dishes, like special meat curries. Nigella or kalaunji is commonly used in pickles and pickle type of dishes.

I am absolutely sure about the difference between the two, everyone uses both them in North India all the time.

Mamta

Thanks for the tandoori chicken recipe. I've just started cooking with Methi. I live in Heysham in NW England, and it's hard to find (but I recently found some!) I'll try your recipe substituting fennel seeds for the methi, and report back. I'm looking forward to trying this.

Thanks again.

Max.

Max,

You will find dry methi leaves (kasoori methi) in large Tesco stores, they have it in Barrow-in-Furness, so probably Preston and Lancaster too.

Waaza

If you want dust/stalks free and realtively fresh dry/kasoori methi leaves, you can buy 9-12 bunches of fresh methi, ? 1.00 for 3 at the moment, wash, pick clean and dry in a conservatory. It takse abou 3-4 days in a hot place to get them crisp.

In Bengal, kalonji is often called kala jeera, it shouldn't be, because black cumin is very different, but the unwary may look at a Bengali dish and think the 'black cumin' called for is Bunium persicum, whereas in Bengal, it is actually Nigella sativa (kalonji).

There is still much confusion, just google 'black cumin kalonji Bengal' and see.

W

Thanks, Wazza - I'll try Lancaster.

Max.

Okay, I have been searching online to help me find my answer, but I cannot.

I've got a spice rack with a bottle labeled "fennel." I also bought a package labeled "fennel" from an Indian grocery store, or at least it was whatever that candy stuff is in (American) Indian restaurants.

Today I was enjoying some of the Indian mix (of candied "fennel" and the plain kind). I wanted to see the medicinal properties of fennel, but many websites said that is is often mistaken for anise and sometiems mistranslated in to English.

I then tasted the spice labeled "fennel" from my spice rack. TOTALLY DIFFERENT TASTE! Nasty as a candy.

So which is which? Someone on this thread said restaurants serve anise, not fennel. Is that true? Is that true in the USA? In Pakistan, I never once had the candy, so I don't know. I've only had it at home in the US.

Hi Deanna

The fine seeds of the mouth freshener, which are served as sugar coated mix of various colours in restaurant, is Anise or fine saunf or ?patli saunf?. The coarse and thicker seeds that are used in cooking are fennel seeds. Both names are often used interchangeably. Just remember them as thin fennel (patli saunf) and fat fennel (moti saunf) for ease. That is what thay are known as in India, and I guess in Pakistan.

Thank you, Mamta. It confused me very much because my patli saunf from India was a lso labeled "fennel."

Thank you for your answer.

I suppose its like the often miss-labelling of "cinnamon bark/sticks" The dark thicker bark isn't cinnamon but a close relative of it! The much thinner and lighter sticks which tend to be coiled around and around are cinnamon.

Steve