Star Anise

Star anise is a green 8-pointed star shaped fruit grown in Southern China. Until recently, star anise was used as a cooking spice although it has been used for thousands of years as a Chinese cold medicine. More recently, the value of star anise has increased remarkably. The reason for the financial windfall Chinese farmers are experiencing is related to the fact that the star anise berries are chock full of an organic compound called shikimic acid. At one time I knew a little organic chemistry and shikimic acid is somewhat familiar in that it was on the pathway to an amino acid I used to have to learn about. Now it has become more glamorous since Roche needs large quantities of shikimic acid to make Tamiflu which is able to treat avian flu and thus is being hoarded by governments all over the world. There is a fermentation process which can be used to produce shikimic but extraction from star anise is much more efficient and there are a lot of happy farmers in China as a result. The irony is the area where shikimic acid is produced in China is the same where the disease originated.