Anisoon (Aniseed): Not Saunf, Not Star Anise, and What It’s Really For
Anisoon (aniseed, Pimpinella anisum) is the small liquorice-scented seed of a parsley-family plant, and it is neither saunf nor star anise, even though pansari shelves and Unani books use the three names loosely for one another. This page sorts out the identity first, then covers what yansoon tea and the seed are traditionally used for, how much of that holds up, and who should leave it alone.
In brief
- English: anise, aniseed, anise seed
- Urdu/Hindi: anisoon, anisun; patli saunf or vilayati saunf in India
- Arabic/Persian/Unani: yansoon, anisun; badiyan-e-rumi in older Unani texts
- Scientific name: Pimpinella anisum, family Apiaceae (the parsley family)
- Part used: the dried ripe fruit, called a seed in the kitchen
- Main uses: yansoon tea for gas and wind, a cough-tea ingredient, breads, sweets, sharbat, mukhwas
- Safety flag: anise oil is never swallowed; seed teas are not for babies or children without a doctor’s say-so
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Anise vs saunf vs star anise: three plants, one muddle
Here is the whole problem in one table. The three spices smell alike because all three are rich in the same aroma compound, anethole. That is where the likeness ends.
| Anise (anisoon) | Fennel (saunf) | Star anise (badiyan) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant | Knee-high annual herb, parsley family | Tall feathery herb, parsley family | Evergreen tree, magnolia relative |
| What you buy | Tiny grey-green oval seeds, 3 to 5 mm | Longer ridged green seeds, often curved | Woody eight-pointed star, each point holding one shiny seed |
| Smell | Sweet, like liquorice sweets | Greener, sweeter, more herbal | Woody, warm, almost medicinal |
| Where it lives | Arab and Turkish kitchens, Unani teas, European breads and liqueurs | After-meal mukhwas, saunf water, Indian cooking | Biryani, garam masala, Chinese braises |
In much of South Asia no real distinction is made between anise and fennel, because fennel grows here and anise mostly arrives by import. That is why an Indian shop calls anise “patli saunf” (thin fennel) and a Pakistani pansari may hand you saunf when you ask for anisoon.
The pansari’s check: palms, then eyes
Rub a pinch between warm palms and sniff. Anise smells like a liquorice sweet; saunf smells greener and sweeter, like the mukhwas tray; star anise smells woody and medicinal. Then look. Anise seeds are tiny grey-green ovals, pear-shaped, and quite a few still carry a hair-fine stalk at one end. Saunf is longer, paler and plainly ridged. Nothing about star anise looks like a seed at all. If “anisoon” in the jar is long and ridged, you have been given saunf.
Why Unani books say badiyan when they mean fennel
This confuses almost everyone. In Persian, badiyan is fennel. The Unani pharmacopoeia grew up in Persian and Arabic, so arq badiyan, the classic distilled water, is fennel water, not star anise water. Star anise reached these kitchens later from China and borrowed the name because of the shared smell. Anise, the third plant, was called badiyan-e-rumi, “Roman badiyan”, or simply anisun. If a hakeem’s recipe says badiyan, think fennel; if a biryani recipe says badiyan, think the star. The badiyan guide covers buying safe star anise and the toxic Japanese lookalike, so that story is not repeated here.
One more loose end. The autocomplete phrase “anisoon ke patte” (anise leaves) points to a different vernacular plant, not to Pimpinella anisum, whose leaves are not a pansari item. This page stays with the seed.
Where anisoon comes from
Anise is native to the eastern Mediterranean and West Asia; Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Spain and parts of India and Iran grow it today. It is an annual that flowers in white umbrella-shaped heads, harvested when the heads turn grey-brown. Most of what reaches Pakistani shops is imported, which is one reason it costs more than saunf and is more often substituted. The seed holds up to about three per cent essential oil, mostly trans-anethole, and anethole is sweet on the tongue, which is why plain yansoon tea tastes faintly sweet before any sugar goes in.
What is anisoon used for in Unani and Arab tradition?
Unani texts class anisun as hot and dry, a kasir-e-riyah (wind dispeller), a mudirr (it promotes flow, of urine and of milk), and a mukhrij-e-balgham (it loosens phlegm). It appears in cough mixtures, in jawarish and majoon for the stomach, and in teas for nursing mothers. Across the Arab world, yansoon is simply the hot drink you are handed for a bloated stomach, a cold, or a restless evening, usually with a spoon of sugar or honey.
Punjabi and Sindhi homes often never used the word anisoon at all, because saunf did the same jobs; the saunf page owns that after-meal habit.
What the evidence actually supports
Separate the claims and the picture is clear enough.
Reasonably supported, as a traditional medicine. The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts aniseed for mild digestive complaints such as bloating and wind, and as an expectorant in coughs with colds, on the strength of long traditional use rather than large trials. That is the honest ceiling: a soothing, plausibly helpful warm drink for gas and a loose cough.
Preliminary. A 2012 review in ISRN Pharmaceutics found only a handful of small human studies, on menopausal hot flushes, period pain and constipation, alongside plenty of laboratory work on the oil’s antimicrobial and antispasmodic actions. Small, short, and not repeated: interesting, not settled.
Tradition only. Milk supply in nursing mothers. Anise has been reputed to increase milk for centuries, and anethole-type compounds do have weak oestrogen-like activity, but there is no good trial showing more milk in real mothers. Pleasant tea, unproven galactagogue
Unsupported or unsafe. Anise does not fix weight, sugar or hormones, and the undiluted essential oil is not a remedy for anything taken by mouth. The hormone question for the related fennel is examined on the fennel and PCOS page; the same caution applies to anise.
How anisoon is used in the kitchen and the cup
Everything below is a food or household amount, not a medicine.
- Yansoon tea: lightly crush 1 teaspoon of whole seed, pour over 250 ml of just-boiled water, cover, and steep 5 to 8 minutes. Strain. Sweeten if you like. Covering matters, because anethole escapes with the steam.
- Anise sharbat: simmer 2 tablespoons crushed seed in 500 ml water for 10 minutes, strain, add 150 g sugar and the juice of half a lemon, cool, and dilute to taste over ice.
- Breads and biscuits: 1 to 2 teaspoons whole seed in a batch of nan khatai, sheermal or a plain loaf. The Levantine kaak and Greek paximadia lean on the same seed.
- Mukhwas: dry-roast 2 tablespoons anise with 2 tablespoons saunf for 2 minutes on low heat; the anise deepens the liquorice note.
- Savoury: a pinch in a fish marinade or a Moroccan-style stew. It is milder than star anise, so it will not dominate a biryani the way one star can.
The storage step that keeps the smell
Buy whole seed and crush it just before use. Whole anise in an airtight jar away from light keeps its aroma for a year or more; once ground, the anethole fades fast, and the powder is noticeably flat within weeks to a couple of months. Ground anise also goes stale-tasting as its oil oxidises, so a pre-ground packet is the one grade not worth paying extra for.
Who should be careful with anise
Babies and children. Anise or saunf water for colic is a widespread habit, and a risky one. The European herbal monograph does not recommend aniseed for anyone under 12 because of its anethole and estragole content and the lack of safety data. Severe lethargy has been reported in two newborns whose mothers were drinking about two litres a day of a mixed anise and fennel infusion; the effect was put down to anethole reaching them through milk. For a baby’s colic or a child’s cough, ask the paediatrician first; the herbal tea for kids page gives the house age rules. Pregnancy: food amounts in bread or a dish are fine; regular medicinal teas are an “ask first”, because anethole has weak oestrogen-like activity. Breastfeeding: occasional moderate tea is considered compatible; litres a day is not. Hormone-sensitive conditions (oestrogen-dependent cancers, endometriosis): ask first for the same reason. Allergy: people allergic to celery, coriander, caraway, dill or fennel can react to anise, with skin or breathing symptoms; stop at the first hive or wheeze. Essential oil: anise oil is for fragrance and diluted skin use only. Swallowed, high doses of anethole are neurotoxic and can cause fits. Keep it away from children. Diabetes: watch the sugar in sharbats and sweetened teas, not the seed.
Buying anisoon in Pakistan: what the real seed looks like
Ask for anisoon or anisun, and if the pansari looks puzzled, say “chhoti vilayati saunf” or “yansoon”. Dull brown seed with little scent is old stock, and pre-ground “anise powder” is often cut with saunf powder, which nobody can tell by eye. The ajwain vs saunf page covers the other seed people confuse with saunf, and the fennel distillate that shares the badiyan name has its own page on arq badiyan.
Bottom line
Anisoon is true anise, not the saunf of the mukhwas tray and not the woody star of the biryani pot. Tradition and Europe’s herbal regulators agree it is a reasonable warm drink for wind and a cold-season cough in adults; claims about milk, hormones and weight rest on tradition and small studies. The real safety issue is anise oil swallowed, and seed teas poured into babies without a doctor’s advice. Stock a small jar of whole seed and crush as you go. More ingredient explainers sit in Unani & Herbal, Decoded.
Anisoon: the questions people ask
What is anisoon in English?
Anisoon is anise, also written aniseed or anise seed. It is the dried fruit of Pimpinella anisum, a plant in the parsley and carrot family. It is not fennel (saunf) and not star anise (badiyan), though all three smell of liquorice.
What is the botanical name of anisoon?
Pimpinella anisum, family Apiaceae. Fennel is Foeniculum vulgare in the same family, and star anise is Illicium verum, a tree in a completely different plant family.
Is anisoon the same as saunf?
No. They are cousins in the same family with a similar smell, but anise seed is tiny, grey-green and pear-shaped, while saunf is longer, paler and ridged. In India anise is sometimes sold as “patli saunf”, which is where the mix-up comes from.
What is the difference between anise and star anise?
Anise is a small herb seed from the Mediterranean; star anise is the woody star-shaped fruit of an evergreen tree from southern China and Vietnam. Star anise is stronger and more medicinal in smell, and one star flavours a whole pot. Star anise also carries a toxic lookalike risk that anise does not, covered on the badiyan page.
What are anisoon ke fayde for gas and digestion?
A warm cup of anise tea after a heavy meal is traditionally taken for bloating and wind, and European herbal regulators accept that use on the basis of long tradition. It is a mild carminative, meaning it eases trapped gas; it will not fix reflux, ulcers or an irritable bowel on its own.
Is yansoon tea good for cough?
For an adult with a cold and a loose or tickly cough, yes: warm fluid, steam, a sweet taste that eases the throat, and a traditional expectorant on top. It is not a treatment for a chest infection. See a doctor for fever of 39 °C or above, breathlessness, chest pain, blood, or a cough lasting over three weeks.
Can babies be given anise or saunf water for colic?
Not without a paediatrician’s advice. Aniseed is not recommended under 12 in the European herbal monograph, and newborns have become severely lethargic after their mothers drank very large amounts of anise and fennel tea. Colic has safer first steps: feeding position, winding, and a check by the doctor.
Is anise safe in pregnancy?
In food amounts, in bread or a dish, yes. Daily medicinal teas are an “ask your doctor first”, because anethole has weak oestrogen-like activity and good pregnancy safety data does not exist. Never take anise essential oil by mouth, pregnant or not.
What does anisoon taste like and what is it used in?
Sweet and clean, like liquorice sweets, with none of the bitterness of real liquorice root. It flavours Arab and Turkish breads and biscuits, Greek and Levantine drinks, yansoon tea, sharbats, mukhwas and some Unani cough and stomach preparations.
Why do Unani books call fennel badiyan when badiyan is star anise?
Because the Unani books are older than the name clash. Badiyan is the Persian word for fennel, so arq badiyan and other classical recipes mean fennel. Star anise arrived later and borrowed the name in the kitchen because it smells similar. Anise itself was called badiyan-e-rumi or anisun.
Does anise increase breast milk?
Tradition says yes, but there is no solid trial showing it. A cup or two of anise tea a day is considered compatible with breastfeeding; very large amounts have made infants drowsy. Frequent feeding and rest do more for supply than any seed.
Can I use anise essential oil for stomach pain?
Not by mouth, ever. Anise oil is concentrated anethole, and swallowed doses can cause nausea, fits and loss of consciousness. The seed in a tea is a food; the oil is not. Diluted in a carrier oil it is used for fragrance and massage only, away from children.
Where can I buy anisoon in Pakistan and what should real seed look like?
Any pansari or a well-stocked spice shop, usually under anisoon, anisun or yansoon. Real seed is small, grey-green, slightly pear-shaped, often with a fine stalk attached, and smells strongly of liquorice when rubbed. Long ridged seed is saunf. Buy whole, not ground.
Sources
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products: Anisi fructus (aniseed) herbal monograph summary, adopted 2012
- Shojaii A, Abdollahi Fard M. Review of pharmacological properties and chemical constituents of Pimpinella anisum. ISRN Pharmaceutics, 2012
- Albert-Puleo M. Fennel and anise as estrogenic agents. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 1980
- e-lactancia.org (APILAM): Pimpinella anisum and breastfeeding, risk assessment and infant toxicity report
- Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages: Anise (Pimpinella anisum), names, chemistry and culinary use