The Power of Star Anise.
What is star anise? It's one of the many spices I keep here in this old house. I find it in supermarkets that have racks of clear cellophane bags with loose herbs & spices at the end of their aisles. You can find unusual spices reasonably priced. It has many health benefits and one that helps during flu season. It grows on a tree in Viet Nam & China & is the dried fruit from the Asian evergreen tree (Illicium verum. It's one of the 5 spices used in Chinese cooking that includes cinnamon, fennel, peppercorns, and cloves. I'm steaming steel cut oats in the rice cooker and I can already smell the pungent licorice like flavor aroma wafting in the rooms. The Five Chinse Spices A household staple that I always keep in a jar with many other medicinal spices like turmeric rhizomes, ginger, cumin, coriander, etc. It can inhibit yeast infections like candida and thrush. It has shikimic acid, and the star anise oil contain...