Peter Hagen’s DuConté

Anisette is a sweet but potent liqueur made from aniseseed. Anise, called anice (pronounced ah-NEE-cheh) in Italian, once grew wild in the Mediterranean and is one of the oldest known spice plants. It was used in Egypt as far back as 1500 B.C. and was mentioned in the Bible. Over the centuries, anise has been used for a variety of purposes: to ward off the Evil Eye; to increase milk flow in nursing mothers; to cure epilepsy; as an antidote for snake bites and scorpion stings; and as an aphrodisiac. In Native American cultures, it was, and still is, used as a laxative, and it’s a known appetite suppressant. Some people believed that if you placed anise under your pillow, it would keep away nightmares. It was also used to ease sore throats, coughing, bronchitis, and congestion, and that lives on in modern medicine through its use as an expectorant in many cough syrups. Anise tastes like licorice and, in fact, oil distilled from the plant is what gives licorice candy its flavor.