Aniseed Pimpinella anisum - Sweet cumin, Anise Aniseed was cultivated by all the ancient civilisations; Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. It is referred to by Theophrastus and Pliny as ánison, the source of its modern Latin specific name anisum. The Romans grew it, mainly in Tuscany, for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The seeds contain the volatile oil, anethole, found also in the unrelated star anise and liquorice, which is a digestive. The Greek physician, Hippocrates prescribed aniseed for coughs and as a mild expectorant in the 5th century BC. Aniseed was a very important ingredient, probably for those same digestive properties, in Mustaceum, a spicy cake eaten at the end of very elaborate feasts by the Romans, and which is thought by some to have been the earliest ancestor of the modern wedding cake. In northern India too, aniseed is commonly used as a digestive. Together with fennel, it is a main ingredient in paan, a seed, lime and betel leaf preparation designed to sweeten the breath, settle the stomach and prevent flatulence after rich meals. In 1597, John Gerard, the herbalist advised: “Anise helpeth the yeoxing or hicket (hiccups).” and modern herbalists still recommend aniseed tea, taken warm with honey for not only hiccups, but diarrhoea, colic, asthma , and with fennel added to ease bronchial catarrh. 1 tsp of aniseed weighs 2g is 8 kcalories and contains fats, carbohydrates, sodium, proteins and iron.