The Spicy Star in Wine

Have you chewed on spicy liquorice which evokes on your tongue bitter-sweetness, a tinge of white pepper, the aroma of a cinnamon stick and then wondered if you have an equivalent fruit or herb that would replicate all this in one?

How lucky you are? There is such as thing called Illicium verum and for normal humans it is known as Star Anise. Originating in China, Star Anise is now a very common ingredient in Asian cooking be it chicken, beef, pork or duck. Indians and Chinese use it to flavour soups, stocks and to produce mixed spices such as the Garam Masala or Chinese Five Spices. You will see whole star anise in the famous Indian Briyani (sort of spicy Indian fried rice) and in Thai red curries.

You can buy star anise in your supermarket or Asian groceries. The fruit comes in a dried form and has the shape of a 5 to ten pointed star. Each pod has a shiny seed inside, as in the picture above. In Asia the dried fruit is also chewed for breath freshening after meals.

Last night I invited two neighbours for a BBQ at our place as we did not know each other that well even though we have been living in the same neighbourhood for over 7 years. We had some wines from Australia and New Zealand. As I drank the Jacob’s Creek Grenache/Shiraz blend from the Barossa Valley in South Australia it was evocative of the flavour and aroma that only Star Anise can radiate not from a distant galaxy but like fruit bombs in your mouth here and now.

Next time you describe a Syrah or Grenache pass around a few Star Anise to your tasters. You will be a star for it!