Botanical Name: Illicum verum
Botanical Family: Apiaceae
Extraction Method: CO2
Part of Plant Distilled: Star shaped dried fruit
Country of Origin: Vietnam
Cultivation Method: Organic
Composition: 100% Illicum verum
Consistency: Thin to Medium
Scent Description: Light, lively licorice scent with inviting spicy, sweet notes.
Blends well with: Grapefruit, Bergamot, Lemon, Lime, Tarragon, Hyssop, Clary Sage, Cinnamon, Clove, Vanilla, Inula, Marjoram, Frankincense, Myrrh, Ylang, Geranium, Cedar, Douglas Fir, Sage, and Fennel.
Uses: Excellent and effective in salt pipes and diffusers. Aperitif and carminative. Similar to the spice, it is used in culinary creations. Oral care. Makes hangovers happy. Used topically, Star Anise Essential Oil makes a marvellously muscle melting massage oil and tenacious, tightening toner. For both, dilute the oil to 1.5% or less.
Contraindications: Dilute to use topically. Avoid using when pregnant or breastfeeding.
Constituents: Potent in the phenolic ether, trans-anethole (80 - 95 %) with traces of limonene, linalool, pinene.
It is with good reason that the botanical name for Anise trees, Illicium, means “enticing” in Latin. This deeply fragrant and beautiful tree with glossy evergreen leaves and aromatic white flowers also produces the elegant star-shaped seed pods that are used in tropical cuisine to infuse soups, stews, and spirits with a licorice essence.
Our favorite use for bright Star Anise Essential Oil is aromatherapeutically in diffusers, salt pipes, and in simmering pots of water in the cold winter months for big, deep, warming breaths and botanical-biotic potency. A single drop also enlivens a steaming pot of pho noodles, curry, and other cuisine creations from tropical Asia.
“The scent is so distinctive that it is a recognized odor type – anise. The most important constituent in all anise-scented botanicals, such as star anise and sweet fennel, is trans-anethole. These botanicals are used as flavors in a class of alcoholic beverages known as “aniseed aperitifs” which includes ouzo, absinthe, raki, sambuca and pastis.”
~ Jennifer Peace Rhind, Fragrance and Wellbeing
“A drop of star anise essential oil on a teaspoon of sugar [or honey] will restore equilibrium to an acutely out-of-whack system.”
~ Kurt Schnaubelt, Advanced Aromatherapy
