Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1884 — Anise. [ARTICLE]

Anise.

Anise grows wild in Egypt, in Syria., Palestine, and all parts of the Levant, but the Romans considered the Egyptian and Cretan anise to be the best, especially for medicinal purposes. The product of Southern Europe is now looked upon with fttvor. Among the ancients, anise seems to have been a common pot-herb in every garden. Although it is less used in medicine by the moderns than by the ancients, it still retains its former reputation as an excellent stomachic, particularly for delicate women and young children. The Romans chew it in order to keep up an agreeable moisture in the mouth, find sweeten the breath, while some Orientals still do the same’; Some of the Persian poets have sung the agreeable qualities of the anise, and a modern sweet ballad of Rome compares the slender grace of a young girl to the -anise. « Anise is an annual plant growing to the height of one foot, carries a white flower, aud blooms from June till August. The seeds are imported and used in large quantities on account of their aromatic and carminative properties. The distilled plant, when used in blossom, yields a sweeter and more grateful tincture than can be obtained from the seeds. Anise is extensively Used by the confectioner for the purpose of flavoring comfits and cordials. The anise seed cordial of the shops is a compound of alcohol, anise seed and angelica. The oil is obtained by distillation from the seeds, and though habitually mixed with a great many cattle medicines, and regarded by the farmers of former generations as one of the most potent drugs, it performs scarcely any other office than the communicating of an agreeable fragrance. The Chinese cultivate it for the seasoning of dishes; and the Japanese employ bundles and garlands of it in the ceremonies of their heathenish superstition. -