Anise Oil

#### Anise. See also Star Anise Oil. True **Anise**** ****Oil**** **is steam distilled from the dried and crushed fruits ("seeds") of the annual herb, **Pimpinella Anisum**. The herb originated in the Near East, and is now cultivated in many countries: Argentina, Bulgaria, Chili, China, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, USSR, Yugoslavia, etc. Most of the Turkish production goes into "raki", a popular alcoholic beverage. Only a few of the above countries produce **Anise Oil**. The fruit is also distilled outside of the growing areas. Poland and the USSR are among the largest producers of Anise Oil from locally grown fruits. **Anise Oil, **also called **Anise Seed Oil **or **Aniseed Oil**, is a water-white or very pale yellow liquid of intensely sweet and clean odor, truly reminiscent of the crushed fruit. A very common description is that of "licorice odor". Obviously, this is another example of circle-minded association (like the "chocolate odor of vanilla or vanillin). Anise Oil and its derivatives are used as flavoring ingredients in licorice candy, but the licorice extract itself (i.e. the extract of the rhizome) does not have any odor resemblance to anise. The flavor of **Anise**** ****Oil**** **is also sweet, soft and mild, although, at the same time, it is quite rich and powerful in effect. Characteristic of a good **Anise Oil **(and also of pure anethole) is the wide limits of concentration in the application of these oils. In other words, it is not easy to overdose when anise flavor is called for. Suggested use level is about *5.0** *to 10.0 mg% (lower when anise oil is used as a sweetener only). The **Minimum**** ****Perceptible**** **is 0.30 to 0.60 mg%. It is not a *very *powerful flavor material. **Anise Oil **is used mainly in flavors. It is an important ingredient in the flavoring of licorice candy, cough-drops, baked goods, pharmaceutical preparations, etc. It is also used in certain types of tobacco flavor, e.g. pipe tobaccos. In perfumes, the oil finds some use as a masking agent for obnoxious odors such as hydrogen sulfide, e.g. in cold-wave preparations and depilatories. It is also useful for masking the odor of cod liver oil and other rancid odors, particularly in combination with sweet orange oil and coumarin. However, for industrial perfuming and technical preparations, it is not economically feasible to use the essential oil. Synthetic Anethole is cheaper, and does not have to meet the same strict specifications for toxicity as those demanded of anise oil for flavors. The toxic cis-Anethole (isomer of anethole) does not occur in anise fruit oil (see monograph on **Star**** ****Anise**** ****Oil**** **and toxicity of cis-anethole). **Anise**** **(fruit) **Oil**** **was once used quite extensively in flavors for candy, liqueurs, brandies ("raki" in Turkey, "anisette" in France and overseas French territories), tobacco, baked goods, spice blends, canned foods, pickles, etc. However, the oil has been largely replaced by synthetic anethole (e.g. from estragole, isolated in the fractionated distillation of American pine oil). (See monograph on **Star Anise Oil **and cis-anethole). For a period of several decades, the Chinese and Indochinese **Star Anise Oil **entered the market, replacing the anise fruit oil so effectively that even the Pharmacopoeias acknowledged the use of the two oils indiscriminately. When star anise oil became unavailable during and after World War II, a synthetic anethole was produced whose purity of flavor was perfected to such a degree that the synthetic anethole now completely dominates as an anise flavor ingredient. Substantial quantities of true anise fruit oil are still produced in Poland and the USSR, and good lots of these oils are shipped all over the world. In respect to cost, it cannot compete with the synthetic anethole, but its flavor is still preferred by many connaisseurs for its fine and delicate sweetness, its rich body and bouquet. True **Anise**** **(fruit) **Oil**** **may not disappear completely from the flavor market, but the oil has become scarce, and it is unlikely that its production will be increased in the future. An oil, distilled from the plant **Osmorrhiza**** ****Longistylis**** **is occasionally sold as **Anise**** ****Oil**** **or **Sweet**** ****Cicely Oil **(in the U.S.A.). See also **Clausena Anisata **and **Star Anise Oil**.