Anise - Breath Sweetening Herbs

Anise is a kind of herbs medicinal plant of the parsley family and also known as aniseed, pimpinel, and sweet cumin. Anise has been cultivated in Egypt since at least 2000 B.C., the flavorful seeds having been employed as a diuretic and a digestive aid and to relieve toothache.

Anise is a very pretty plant, with bright green coriander like foliage and lovely diminutive white and yellow flowers held in feathery umbels. The whole of it growing to about 18 inches. Anise seeds are actually the fruit of the anise plant, which, when dried, are transformed into those familiar gray/brown, longitudinally ribbed seeds habitually positioned as a digestive by the cash register in your favorite Indian restaurant.

As the Pimpinella in anise’s botanical name derives from the Latin dipinella, or twice pinnate, in reference to its leaf form, and because of its pungent, licorice sweetness, anise saw broad medicinal application across all cultures it touched, but particularly for respiratory and digestive ailments.

Anise - breath sweetening herbs

Since a lot of decades anise known as herbal uses for dissolve many ailment from an aching stomach, a sluggish digestion to excessive winde and a stinking breath. Anise works well as strengthening coitus. In 1763 Christopher Sauer maintained that it removes chill from the chest and staves off coughing fits.

Anise also popular known in many countries as the breath-sweetening herbs plant. Interestingly, unlike many early herbal claims, most of those attached to anise are surprisingly smack on the money. We know now that anise seeds contain healthy doses of vitamin B, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium, as well as athenols, which aid in digestion, calm intestinal spasms, and reduce gas. A tisane made of anise has also proven effective in calming both coughs and chronic asthma, and, of course, anise is the main flavoring ingredient in those potent nectars anisette, pastis, and absinthe, the last of which will pretty much calm anything into submission.

Anise is an annual herb and needs a longish, hot, dry season to seed successfully, so, in cooler climes, it is advisable to start seeds in pots indoors in March and set them out when the soil is well warmed up. Otherwise, sow seed in situ in dry light soil and a sunny spot early in April, thinning the plants to about a foot apart. When threshed out, anise seeds are easily dried in trays and jarred for future use.

In ancient Rome, wedding celebrations customarily ended with an anise-scented Mustacae cake to aid digestion and, one assumes, strengthen the coitus. Are you interest to create your own festivity by mixing a handful of anise seeds into your favorite pound cake recipe?