Pimpinella anisum
Green anise, sweet anise, aniseed pimpinella: this is the original anise, the one used in gingerbread and anisette, not to be confused with star anise (badian) or fennel. Cultivated since ancient Egypt, it is one of the oldest spices of the Mediterranean basin.
Characteristics:
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Distinct anise flavor: its seeds flavor pastries, breads, and infusions.
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Usable leaves: young leaves also add flavor to raw vegetables and salads.
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Small annual: 40 to 60 cm tall, with decorative white umbels.
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Short growing cycle: about four months between sowing and seed harvest.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny and warm — essential for the seeds to reach maturity.
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Soil: light, warm, rich in organic matter, and well drained. It does not like heavy soil or stagnant moisture.
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Method: sow from March to May, once the risk of frost has passed, directly in the ground — its taproot does not tolerate transplanting well. Sow 1 cm deep. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Thin to 20 cm apart. Water moderately during growth, reducing watering when the seeds begin to form.
- Hoe regularly, as its light foliage does not compete well with weeds.
Harvesting advice:
- Pick young leaves as needed. For the seeds, cut the umbels when they turn brown, before the seeds scatter, and dry them upside down in a paper bag.
- In cool climates, seed maturation may be incomplete: choose a very warm location, against a south-facing wall.
Beneficial pairings:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its white umbels are true landing platforms for hoverflies and beneficial micro-wasps, whose larvae devour aphids.
- Like all plants in the carrot family, it is a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.
Uses:
- Seeds in gingerbread, cookies, breads, confectionery, and infusions; they also traditionally flavor pastis, ouzo, and anisette. Finely chopped young leaves can be sprinkled over raw vegetables.
- A traditional medicinal plant, used in herbal medicine since antiquity. See our medicinal plants to sow.
Harvesting your own seeds:
That is the harvest itself: keep some for cooking and some for the next sowing. Leave a few umbels to ripen fully and dry them in a sheltered place. See storing your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for germination rates, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The gingerbread spice, grown in your own garden.
