Star Anise - Whole Stars (Illicium verum)

Star anise is not anise. Not the same plant, not the same botanical family, not even the same continent, and the only reason they taste like relatives is one shared compound. Both are listed on this site, so it is worth saying which is which before you buy the wrong one. Anise seed is the small Egyptian-grown seed sold as yansoon. Star anise is the woody brown star in this pouch.

What this is: Illicium verum, an evergreen tree of southern China and northern Vietnam. The fruit is picked before it ripens and sun-dried until it hardens into the shape everyone knows - six to eight woody carpels round a centre, each split open with one glossy seed in it. The surprise is that the aroma lives in the pod wall rather than the seed, so a broken star is still worth using.

Anise seed is Pimpinella anisum, a small carrot-family annual Egypt has grown for a very long time. Fennel, which we also sell, is a third carrot-family plant again. All three are led by anethole, the compound behind that sweet liquorice character, and that is the entire connection: three unrelated plants arrived at the same flavour independently.

They are not interchangeable, because anethole is where the similarity stops. Star anise is the heaviest of the three - resinous, faintly camphorous, with a long tail and a bitterness that arrives if you overuse it or simmer it too long. Anise seed is lighter and sweeter. Fennel is greener, carrying fenchone alongside the anethole. Swap one for another and the dish tastes of the pot.

Buy it whole, and as complete stars. A whole star is its own identification: the shape, the number of points and the single seed in each are what tell you the species. A powder cannot be inspected and tells you nothing. Illicium verum is the culinary species and the only one that belongs in food; other trees in the genus are ornamental and are not culinary spices.

In the kitchen it is a long-cooking spice. It is one of the five in Chinese five-spice, alongside cassia, cloves, Sichuan pepper and fennel; it is the backbone of a pho broth and of red-braised pork; and it belongs with duck, orange, beetroot and anything sitting on a low heat for an hour. In Egypt it appears mostly in hot spiced winter drinks.

Use less than you think. One point broken off a star is enough for a pan of braised meat, and a single whole star carries a large pot of broth. Add it at the beginning so it has time to give, and take it out before serving. For five-spice, grind only what you need - ground star anise fades within weeks while whole stars keep a year.

Star anise reached the Mediterranean on the same routes as cinnamon and cloves, and has been used in Egypt for generations in winter drinks. That is offered as a description of the custom, not as a health claim or medical advice. Whole stars are light, dry and unbreakable. Dried packaged food for personal use is normally fine in EU and UK baggage; rules change, so check your own country's customs page before you fly.