Sweet cicely has long seeds, up to a foot in length, ridged and black with an aniseed flavour. They can be used in salads when young or as a spice as they grow older. The leaves have a smell reminiscent of myrrh and aniseed and can be added to soups, omelettes, drinks and liquors. The fruits, collected before they ripen and then dried, can be used to give meats a liquorice-like flavour, and the roots can be used as a vegetable.
Pastry made using egg yolks instead of water, resulting in a very 'short' brittle pastry. It is often made with sugar to provide a sweet pastry.
A type of cumin with very dark seeds and a slightly sweeter aroma than the more regular cumin. It is used in northern Indian and Iranian cooking. The name is sometimes used to describe the black seeds of nigella or love-in-a-mist. They have a sharp, pungent flavour, with a hint of a smell of strawberries and are used for flavouring confectionary and liquors.
Sweet cumin is a relation of fennel which is of the same family as anise, cumin, caraway and dill.. It is an important spice in Indonesian cookery.
