Consultoría en la ciudad de cayambe

Anise/aniseed, first used by early Egyptians as early as 1500 BC, is a popular spice used throughout the world. Called anysum by early Arabs, anison by Greeks, and later anise by the English, it was used by Europeans as an aphrodisiac and as a charm to prevent nightmares. Ancient Assyrians used anise as a medicine, Greeks found it to be a digestive aid, and the Romans used anise to soothe sore throats. They ate anise spice cakes to soothe digestion.

Associated with the taste of licorice, the Portuguese call anise, erva doce, the “sweet herb,” the Indonesians call it jintan manis, the “sweet seed,” and the Arabs,

kamun halu or sweet cumin. Thought to be a foreign variety of fennel, Asian Indians often confuse anise with fennel because of its similar flavor and name, saunf. To distinguish they called it patli saunf or thin fennel. In China, anise is commonly used with fennel and star anise to add a savory, sweet flavor to barbecues.

Scientific Name(s): Pimpinella anisum. Family: Umbelliferae or Apiaceae (pars- ley family).

Common Names: sweet cumin, aniseed, and common anise. It is also called yansoon, kamun halu, habbet hilwa (Arabic), sulpha (Bengali), dai wuih heong, huei xiang (Cantonese, Mandarin), anijs (Dutch), anisun (Farsi), anis vert (French), anis (German, Swedish, Danish, Russian), anison ( Greek), anis (Hebrew), patli saunf (Hindi), anice (Italian), anisu (Japanese), sutha koppa (Malayalam), jintan manis (Malaysian, Indonesian), erva doce (Portuguese), anis (Spanish), anis (Tagalog), anisu (Tamil), sompu (Telegu), anason (Turkish), and cay vi (Vietnamese).

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Origin and Varieties: it is indigenous to Greece, Egypt, Crete, Turkey, and Lebanon. Anise is also grown in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Syria, Spain, Italy, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Japan, and Germany.

Form: anise is a dried ripe fruit or seed. It is small, oval, greenish gray to yellow brown, with a ridged or ribbed surface. Anise is sold whole, cracked, or ground. When it is ground into powder, anise quickly loses its flavor.

Properties: anise seed has a sweet licorice-like taste and is warm, fruity, and camphoraceous. Anise’s flavor is similar to fennel and star anise, but it is more camphor–like and delicate. Its leaves are also aromatic.

Chemical Components: depending on its source, anise seed has 1.5% to 6% essential oil, mainly trans-anethole (80% to 90%), methyl chavicol (10% to 15%), iso-anethole (2%), ketone, and anis aldehyde (less than 1%). It has 8% to 20% fixed oil. The leaf has a much lower level of essential oil.

About 21_/

2 lb. essential oil (yellowish green to orange brown) is equivalent to

100 lb. freshly ground spice, and 81_/

4 lb. oleoresin (has 15% to 18% volatile oil) will

replace 100 lb. freshly ground spice.

Anise contains iron, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium.

How Prepared and Consumed: the early Romans used anise to flavor a special cake called mustaceum that was served as a dessert to aid digestion. They also mixed anise with vinegar and honey and used the mixture as a tonic to soothe sore throats. This spice tends to be used in sweet foods in Europe, while in Asia, anise is combined with pungent, spicy ingredients for curries and savory applications. Anise goes well with fruits, sugar, fennel, wine, and cinnamon. It is a popular spice in Chinese cooking. Anise leaves and stalk can garnish fruit salads and are sometimes added to fish soups and cream sauces of Europe. They are roasted or sauteed in oil with other spices to enhance stewed vegetables, roasted meats, curries, and tomato sauces. The Portuguese, Germans, Scandinavians, French, and Italians use anise to flavor cakes, sweet rolls, cookies, sweets, applesauces, rye bread, churek, pancakes, cheeses, relishes, marinated meat and fish, beef stew, salad dressings, sausages, and luncheon meats.

Europeans flavor many liqueurs and spirits with anise, such as anisette, raki

(Turkey), ouzo (Greece), arrack (Arab regions), kibib (Egypt), sambuca (Italy), pernod and pastis (France), ojen (Spain), anesone (Italy), and even juice drinks and teas.

Middle Easterners use anise in sweet and savory dishes, and it is the fundamental ingredient in their local spirits, ouzo and raki. Syrians use it in a beverage called

miglee and in their popular fig jams.

Spice Blends: curry blends, hoisin, tomato sauce blends, sausage blends, and betel leaf mixture.

Therapeutic Uses and Folklore: traditionally, Europeans used anise to treat epilepsy and to ward off evil. The Aztecs drank tea made from its flowers and leaves to relieve coughing and to dispel gas. Anise aids digestion, improves appetite, alleviates cramps and nausea, and soothes colic in infants. Anise is commonly used in lozenges and cough syrups because it is a mild expectorant. It also soothes insect bites and is chewed to induce sleep. In India, anise seeds are served after meals to aid digestion and sweeten breath.

Anise shows antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

68 Handbook of Spices, Seasonings, and Flavorings, Second Edition

ANNATTO

Annatto, called urucul by the Tupi-Guarani Indians of the Amazon region, achiote in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs in Mexico, annatto by the Caribs, and achuete

by Filipinos, is better known today as achiote by Mexicans and Caribbeans. They are an important coloring and seasoning for Latin American, Native American, Spanish, and Filipino cooking.

The Caribs, Mayans, and other Native Americans dyed their bodies with annatto oil to protect against the sun, thus giving rise to the term “redskin” by the early European settlers in the Americas. Aztecs used annatto seeds to intensify the color of their chocolate drink. This practice of coloring traveled to Europe, where annatto is now used to give a deep yellow color to butter and cheese. Often called “saffron” by Puerto Ricans, this spice was introduced to India by the Portuguese and to the Philippines by the Spanish.

Scientific Name(s): Bixa orellana. Family: Bixaceae.

Origin and Varieties: Annatto is indigenous to South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. It is today cultivated in Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, Philippines, India, and western Africa.

Common Names: orellana, achiote, bija, and bijol. Also called latka (Bengali), yin ju suih, yan zhi shu (Cantonese, Mandarin), anatto, rocou (Dutch), lipstick tree (English), roucou (French, Caribbean), annatto (German), anato (Hebrew), kesumba (Indonesian), beninoki (Japanese), sa ti (Laotian), jarak belanda (Malaysian), urucum (Portuguese-Brazil), orellana, achiote, bijol (Spanish), annatto biksa (Russian), achuete (Tagalog), kongaram (Tamil), kam tai (Thai), arnatto (Turkish), and hot dieu do (Vietnamese).

Form: annatto are small dark-red seeds in a prickly, heart-shaped fruit. It is sold as a paste, as oil (extracted from seeds), or ground (from the whole seed).

Properties: annatto is deep golden yellow to orange red in color. It has a delicate, slightly sweet and mild peppery flavor with flowery and earthy undertones.

Chemical Components: bixin, an oil-soluble apocarotenoid, is the main coloring pigment, with norbixin, other carotenoids, and apocarotenoids making up 7% of the dry seed. Its flowery scent is due to tricyclic sesquiterpene hydrocarbons called ishwarane.

How Prepared and Consumed: annatto is used as a cooking oil and a gentle flavoring and coloring agent in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the Philippines. It is popular in Puerto Rican and other Caribbean cooking and added to rice, polenta, beans, chicken and fish stews, soups, pork, okra, yuca, and tomatoes. In Jamaica, the popular salt cod and ackee dish, fried chicken, and pork are colored with annatto.

Annatto combines well with cumin, garlic, oregano, and coriander. Typically, it is used to color or flavor food in the form of aceite (oil) or manteca de achiote

(annatto lard) in Latin American and Filipino rice dishes, stews, and meats. Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Chinese color batters, Peking style duck, coconut based curries, and marinate pork and fish with annatto. The seeds are fried in oil or lard that becomes a golden orange in color. Then, the seeds are discarded, and this colored oil is used to fry vegetables, rice, chicken, or meats. It is also blended with other

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ingredients to create the Puerto Rican sofrito. In the Yucatan and in Guatemala, the whole annatto seed is ground into a paste and is used with other spices as a rub and to provide a deeper flavor to barbecued pork, poultry, and fish dishes.

In Europe, annatto extract colors butter, margarine, ice cream, confectionary, sausages, and many cheeses including red Cheddar, Muenster, Edam, Chesire, Livarot, and Leicester. In the United States, annatto is used in relishes, snacks, beverages, gravies, seasonings, baked goods, and margarine.

Spice Blends: sazon, recados, achiotes, sofritos, and adobos.

Therapeutic Uses and Folklore: the ancient Mayans and Caribs used annatto to paint their faces and bodies in religious ceremonies and in preparation for wars. To them, it represented courage and strength. It has been used to control fevers and dysentery.