The popularity of medicinal plants is explained by their incredible healing properties, thanks to which a person got the opportunity to recover from many diseases and carry out preventive measures. An important place among them should be allocated to such a plant unique in its properties as ordinary anise. Its beneficial effects have been known since ancient times. Many people take it for an ordinary wild plant, no different from others.
Plant benefits
Usually anise grows abundantly in an environment favorable for its development, namely in meadows. Since ancient times, people came up with a traditionally popular name for it - “porridge”, since the appearance of anise is surprisingly similar to semolina. The plant acquired such similarity due to snow-white dense inflorescences.
Currently, anise is widely used in cooking, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetology. A pleasant, slightly tart smell distinguishes it from other similar plants. Grown under certain conditions, anise ordinary differs in the juiciness of the stem and the splendor of inflorescences. It can also be quite actively used in winemaking, since on its basis it is quite possible to obtain an incredibly tasty wine.
In former times, ordinary anise (photo) grew exclusively in Asia Minor; it came to other countries, including Russia, thanks to merchants who distributed spices for culinary specialists. Today, one can hardly believe that ordinary anise was difficult to meet in a meadow in European countries (as in Russia). In Rome, this plant was used as a means for rejuvenation. It is also known from history that many Romans, including the famous writer Pliny, used the infusion of the plant to give freshness to their breath. In modern society, anise is known as a useful and mouth-watering seasoning for culinary dishes, pickles, it is also used in baking bread.
An important part of a plant is its seeds, which are also considered fruits. Outwardly, they are similar to dill, but differ in slightly larger size. In nature, green and brown-gray seeds are more common. Anise contains beneficial essential oils (anethole, aldehyde, ketone, anisic acids) and fatty oils. The extract from the plant has a sweet taste and pleasant aroma.
To a greater extent, the fruits of anise are used to obtain high-quality gourmet spices. They flavored the cooked fish, meat, as well as all kinds of salads, hot dishes, including dairy, drinks, which are especially spicy. After adding anise to sweet desserts, in particular cakes and pies, they turn out to be especially mouth-watering and tasty.
In medical practice, seeds are used to make various infusions and potions that have their purpose. The useful property of this medicinal plant is known as removing excess fluid from the body (diuretic), improving the work of the gallbladder (choleretic), it is also useful as an excellent antiseptic, with which you can cope with acute respiratory disease, lower body temperature. Anis is known in medicine as a tool that increases the production of breast milk in women and helps to normalize digestion. It is also able to eliminate migraines, cure bronchitis, whooping cough, laryngitis, vegetative-vascular dystonia, relieve indigestion and intestines.
