Star anise essential oil
Illicium verum
Hồi · Schisandraceae
Sweet and round, almost a taste before you taste it. It clings to the smelling strip for a long time and leaves a slight coolness at the end.
The sweetness is trans-anethole, the same compound behind fennel and liquorice. Three very different things in the kitchen share one chemical root, a good example of how the nose sorts things in its own way rather than by recipe.
Vietnam is one of the world’s largest sources of star anise, most of it from Lang Son. But that is also why mix-ups with Japanese star anise really happen — and that species is neurotoxic. The lot analysis is what tells the two species apart.
- Plant part
- Seeds
- Vietnamese name
- Hồi
- Scent family
- Spicy
- Plant family
- Schisandraceae
- Lots published
- —
Published lots
No lots yet. When the first lot arrives, its GC/MS analysis will be published here — unedited, with the lot number printed on the bottle label.
Buy Star anise
This oil is in the catalogue but no lot has been brought in, so it is not on sale yet. Message us if you need it — what we stock next depends on what buyers ask for.
Elsewhere in the catalogue
No lot of this oil yet. The oils below are close to it botanically or in how they are extracted — some of them already have lots.
Also from the seeds Amomum · Black pepper · Coriander seed · Juniper berry · May chang · Nutmeg
Same method: direct steam distillation East Indian lemongrass · Galangal · Lemon myrtle · Nutmeg · Oregano · Sweet marjoram · Vietnamese balm · Virginian cedarwood