Star Anise
January 13, 2011 § 7 Comments
Star Anise
I am not a fan of anything that tastes like black licorice, but my husband is. We were shopping at World Spice Merchants last weekend. As my hubby & I were sniffing spices, he asks me if I like tarragon and I promptly and firmly say no. This invites one of the employees to extol the virtues of Star Anise, which has a licorice-like flavor. I’m not buying it, but my hubby gets all excited. Then the other employee says he likes to put it in his oatmeal. That cinches it. We have to buy some for my hubby.
One of the suggestions they gave us is that it tastes great with carmelized onions. Tonight I am making Turkey Tetrazzini, so I thought, what the heck. Let’s give it a try. It’s not supposed to be ground, but steeped in the dish, like bay leaf. I’m hoping that it will give a deeper, more interesting flavor without tasting like licorice.
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I just realized that I never put an end date on the flannel scraps give-away. But I think everyone who is interested has had a chance to leave a comment. So let’s pick a winner! Mr. Random Number Generator chooses the very last comment! (I’ve never seen the first or last comment ever win. Cool!)
Congratulations Lynne! She says that she is going to take a quilting class with her daughter. Welcome to the world of quilting, Lynne!
Actually, star anise is used quite a bit in Chinese cooking-but I guess just a little. It gives a nice flavor not reeking of licorice! I like licorice, but really only in licorice-I can’t imagine it in oatmeal, but I never tried it!
And I adore tarragon sprinkled on a baked potato, either with butter or sour cream!
I love licorice but have never used anise in cooking. I think they look so cool in a dish like in your photo. So…how was it on the oatmeal? I am not a fan of tarragon. At all. Congratulations to Lynn on winning all that flannel goodness =-)
How did the star anise experiment turn out? I’ve never tried that spice. Congratulations to Lynne!
Oh, I don’t like tarragon either. It has such a peculiar flavor. :-[
Enjoying your blog!
Erin
That sounds delicious! How was it? I love licorice, second only to chocolate!
I cant wait to hear what you thought of the dish. I am also not a fan of that particular flavor. Altho…i do love black licorice. I am not a fan of fennel either
I love black licorice, but not in my oatmeal! Get your hubby some Lucky Country Aussie Style Black licorice. It is the best. I get it at Fred Meyer’s. I like star anise mixed with cloves to make the house smell nice. Congrats to Lynne!