Testicles, usually ram's. These may be poached and served with a vinaigrette or dipped in batter and fried. Confusingly, this also means sweetbreads.
Lovage. A large unwieldy herb. Pick the stems off the leaves, tie them and hang them to dry for about 3 days. When crisp, crumble the leaves and store. Good in hotpots. Lovage seeds are used mainly in Indian cooking, and are from a plant of the caraway family. The greenish-brown seeds are a little larger than celery seeds and have a strong aroma of rather coarse thyme. Oregano can be substituted.
Flavoured with aniseed or caraway. Feminine is anisée. Aniseed or sweet cumin is used in confectionary and liqueurs. It is an annual umbelliferous plant native to the Eastern Mediterranean, with red aromatic seeds with a slight liquorice flavour. The seeds resemble fennel seeds, which can be substituted. The chopped leaves can be used to flavour soups and salads. It is also a small aniseed sweet or an aniseed-flavoured apéritif, usually taken with water (e.g. Pernod).
Star anise. Chinese anise. A seed from a tree of the magnolia family which has a flavour reminiscent of liquorice. Stronger than aniseed, it is used in the same way.
A sweet liqueur made with aniseed or coriander (US: cilantro) and fennel. It is a clear and colourless liquid until water is added, when it becomes cloudy. The most famous producer is Marie Brizard.
Sweet, aniseed-flavoured buns from the Aveyron.
