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Star anise

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture;
Plants

                  iStar anise
   Star anise fruits (Illicium verum)
   Star anise fruits (Illicium verum)
           Scientific classification

   Kingdom:  Plantae
   Division: Magnoliophyta
   Class:    Magnoliopsida
   Order:    Austrobaileyales
   Family:   Illiciaceae
   Genus:    Illicium
   Species:  I. verum

                                Binomial name

   Illicium verum
   Hook.f.

   Star anise, star aniseed or Chinese star anise, (Chinese: 八角, pinyin:
   bājiǎo, lit. "eight-horn") is a spice that closely resembles anise in
   flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a
   small native evergreen tree of southwest China. The star shaped fruits
   are harvested just before ripening. It is widely used in Chinese
   cuisine, and to a lesser degree in South Asia and Indonesia. Star anise
   is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese
   cooking. It is also one of the ingredients used to make the broth for
   the Vietnamese noodle soup called phở.

   Star anise contains anethole, the same ingredient which gives the
   unrelated anise its flavor. Recently, star anise has come into use in
   the West as a less expensive substitute for anise in baking as well as
   in liquor production, most distinctively in the production of the
   liquor Galliano.

   Star anise has been used in a tea as a remedy for colic and rheumatism,
   and the seeds are sometimes chewed after meals to aid digestion.

   Although it is produced in most autotrophic organisms, star anise is
   the industrial source of shikimic acid, a primary ingredient used to
   create the anti-flu drug Tamiflu. Tamiflu is regarded as the most
   promising drug to mitigate the severity of bird flu (H5N1); however,
   reports indicate that some forms of the virus have already adapted to
   Tamiflu.

   In 2005, there was a temporary shortage of star anise due to its use in
   making Tamiflu. Late in that year, a way was found of making shikimic
   acid artificially. A drug company named Roche now derives some of the
   raw material it needs from fermenting e-coli bacteria. There is no
   longer any shortage of star anise and it is readily available and is
   relatively cheap.

   Star anise is grown in four provinces in China and harvested between
   March and May. The shikimic acid is extracted from the seeds in a
   ten-stage manufacturing process which takes a year. Reports say 90% of
   the harvest is already used by the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer
   Roche in making Tamiflu, but other reports say there is an abundance of
   the spice in the main regions - Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan.

   Japanese star anise (Illicium anisatum), a similar tree, is not edible
   because it is highly toxic; instead, it has been burned as incense in
   Japan. Cases of illness, including "serious neurological effects, such
   as seizures", reported after using star anise tea may be a result of
   using this species. Japanese star anise contains anisatin, which causes
   severe inflammation of the kidneys, urinary tract and digestive organs.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_anise"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
