I’ve been wanting to get some star anies for the rare recipe, that needs a little bit of it. But I found I couldn’t buy a small amount. So now I have a pint of it. Which means I have more than I can use in a reasonable amount of time before it goes stale.
I figured I might try to make some kind of beverage and maybe some soft candy. Any tested recipes you can recommend?
Also, the store had these $0.99 cans of cooked dried peas. Ingredients are dried peas, water and iodized salt. I’m not quite sure what to expect when I open this can. I’m picturing somebody forgot to blend the split peas soup. Do you have any ideas on how to use this?
I don’t usually use star anise — rather, I use fennel, which is technically not anise, but a closely-related plant. All three have the chemical that produces that flavor, though.
You can definitely get fennel in bulk.
checks Amazon
1 lb bag of star anise:
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Friendly-NON-GMO-Estrella-Illicium/dp/B0CM1VKF5M
5 lb container of anise:
https://www.amazon.com/Dependable-Food-Whole-Anise-Seeds/dp/B0DGHKHRQK
5 lb container of fennel:
https://www.amazon.com/Rani-Indian-Natural-Ingredients-NON-GMO/dp/B07PX4P1WD
I also don’t really need to go buying fennel; in California, the larger problem is trying to get rid of fennel, where it’s quite invasive and is everywhere.