Star anise is today grown almost exclusively in southern China, Indo-China, and Japan. The stars are available whole, or ground to a red-brown powder. Apart from its use in sweetmeats and confectionery, it contributes to meat and poultry dishes, combining especially well with pork and duck. Chinese stocks and soups often contain the spice. In the West, star anise is added in fruit compotes and jams, and in the manufacture of anise-flavored liqueurs, such as Anisette. It is an ingredient of the mixture known as “Chinese Five Spices Bouquet: Powerful and liquorices-like, more pungent and stronger than anise.
Flavor: Evocative of a bitter aniseed, of which flavor star anise is a harsher version.