Both fennel and cumin are commonly used as seasonings, and are essential for cooking fish and meat stews, as well as for making marinated foods. Because they can remove the odor in the meat, make it fragrant again, so it is called "fennel". Fennel is the big material, the scientific name is "anise". The seed of fennel is a flavoring, and the leafy part of the stalk is also aromatic and is often used as a filling for foods such as buns and dumplings. The main ingredient they contain is fennel oil, which can stimulate gastrointestinal neurovascularity, promote the secretion of digestive juices, increase gastrointestinal peristalsis, and eliminate the accumulation of gases, so it has the efficacy of strengthening the stomach and promoting the flow of qi; sometimes gastrointestinal peristalsis decreases after excitement, and thus helps to alleviate spasms and reduce pain. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia contains fennel preparations which are commonly used to invigorate the stomach, dissipate cold, move Qi and relieve pain. Fennelene can promote the maturation and release of bone marrow cells into the peripheral blood, and has the obvious effect of elevating white blood cells, mainly neutrophils, and can be used in leukopenia. [edit]Cumin Scientific name: Foeniculum vulgare .

English name: Fennel.

Floral name: Wit and Beauty.

Family name: Umbelliferae.

Alias: Wistaria, Cumin, Cumin.

Origin: Europe, the Mediterranean coast, China are produced.

Classification: Dicotyledonaceae, Umbelliferae, Umbelliferae, Fennel.

Suitable with: rose, cornflower, blue mallow, rosehips, hibiscus flowers, lemongrass, verbena, raspberry leaves, mint leaves, mate tea, licorice. With mint to eliminate excess water from the body.

Brewing method: (1) Leaves: Simply brew with boiling water. (2) Seeds: Crush the seeds, brew with boiling water, simmer for about ten minutes, then add honey and drink. Take half a spoonful of fennel and crush it with the back of a tablespoon, soak it in hot water for ten minutes. Drink three cups a day, recommended between meals.

Plant Form: Perennial, cultivated as an annual or biennial. The whole plant has a special pungent flavor, the surface has white powder. Leaves pinnately divided, segments linear. Yellow flowers in summer, compound umbels. Fruit oval, yellowish green. Prefer warm, suitable for sandy loam soil; avoid planting in clay soil and too wet place. Spring and fall can be sown or spring planting propagation. Native to the Mediterranean region, widely cultivated throughout our country, strong adaptability. The north of China is mainly cultivated in spring and fall. (Open field cultivation) Spring sowing: March - early April, harvested in mid- and late May. Fall sowing: July-August, harvested in September. The fruit is a double-hanging fruit, cylindrical, some slightly curved, slightly pointed at both ends, 4-8mm long, 1.5-2.5mm in diameter, with a yellow-green or yellowish surface, a yellowish-brown protruding stigmatic base remaining at the tip, and sometimes a tiny fruiting peduncle at the base. The schizocarp is long ellipsoid, with 5 longitudinal ribs on the abaxial surface, and the jointed surface is flat and wider. The cross section is slightly 5-sided, the 4 sides of the dorsal surface being about equal in length. It has a peculiar aniseed odor and a slightly sweet, pungent taste.

Composition and efficacy: the main components of cumin are protein, fat, dietary fiber, fennel brain, cumin ketone, anisaldehyde and so on. Its aroma mainly comes from fennel brain, anisaldehyde and other flavor substances. It is a multi-purpose plant that combines medicine, flavor, food and make-up. Young stems and leaves are used as vegetables and stuffing. Fennel fruits contain 2.8% fennel oil, 50-60% fennel brain, 18-20% a-anethole, 10% methyl pepper and a-pinene dipentene, anisaldehyde, camphene, etc. The endosperm contains fatty oils of about 15%. The endosperm contains about 15% fat oil, about 85% protein, starch sugar and mucus.

Can be used as a spice, commonly used in meat, seafood and baklava and other pasta cooking. Chinese medicine into medicine, warm, pungent flavor, attributed to the liver, kidney, spleen, stomach meridian. Functions: warming the liver and kidney, warming stomach qi, dispersing congestion, dispersing cold, relieving pain, regulating qi and harmonizing the stomach. It is used for abdominal pain of cold hernia, testicular deviation, dysmenorrhea, cold pain in the abdomen, distension and pain in the epigastric region, and vomiting and diarrhea with little food.

Modern pharmacological studies have shown that cumin also has anti-ulcer, analgesic, sex hormone-like effect, etc., fennel oil has varying degrees of antibacterial effect. It can stimulate gastrointestinal neurovascular, promote saliva and gastric juice secretion, and play a role in enhancing appetite and helping digestion. Suitable for spleen and stomach cold. Colic, dysmenorrhea patients used for dietary therapy, the consumption method is: take a little cumin, fried and decocted soup to remove slag, and then add rice, cooked into rice porridge to eat.

Warm tips

Cumin to uniform particles, full texture, yellow-green color, aroma, no stalk for the best. It should be sealed, cool and kept away from light. [edit]Anise Scientific name: Fructus Anisi Stellati.

English name: Star Anise Fruit.

Alias: Aniseed, Anise, August Pearl, Hublot Fennel, Anise Fragrance, Aniseed, Aniseed, Datura, Five Spice Anise.

Source: Fruit of the magnolia plant Illicium verum Hook．f．

Botanical form: evergreen tree, up to 20 m. The bark is gray to reddish brown. Leaves alternate or spirally arranged, leathery, elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 6-12cm long, 2-5cm wide, dark green above, shiny and glabrous, with transparent oil spots, light green below, sparsely hairy. Flowers solitary in leaf axils, pedicellate; sepals 3, yellowish-green; petals 6 to 9, light to dark red; stamens 15 to 19; carpels 8 to 9; ovules anatropous. Aggregate fruit stellate. Flowering in spring and fall, fruiting from fall to the following spring.

Grows in shady and moist mountains with loose soil. Produced in Guangdong, Guangxi and other places.

Harvesting: Picked in fall and winter when the fruits turn from green to yellow, and dried in boiling water or dried directly.

Traits: Polymerized fruit often consists of 8 bony protuberances attached to the central axis in the form of a star. Bony protuberance fruit length 1 ~ 2cm, width 3 ~ 5mm, height 0.6 ~ 1cm; outer surface reddish brown, irregular wrinkles, the tip of the beak-shaped, the upper side of the dehiscence; pericarp inner surface of light brown, smooth and glossy; texture is hard and brittle, containing 1 seed. Fruiting pedicel is 3-4cm long, curved, often falling off. Seeds flat ovoid, about 6mm long, reddish brown or yellowish brown, shiny. Aromatic, taste pungent, sweet.

Chemical composition: contains volatile oil, the oil contains anethole, safrole, anisaldehyde, anisylacetone, watercress alkene and so on.

Taste: warm, pungent flavor. Attributed to the liver, kidney, spleen and stomach meridians

Functions: Warming yang, dispersing cold, regulating qi and relieving pain. Used for cold hernia and abdominal pain, kidney deficiency and lumbar pain, cold stomach and vomiting, cold pain in the epigastric region.

Contraindications: moldy fennel should not be eaten. It should not be eaten by people with yin deficiency and fire. [edit paragraph] therapeutic value Introduction: for the umbelliferae herb cumin fruit. Synonyms: fennel, grain fennel, fragrant seeds. It is commonly cultivated throughout China. Harvested in late summer and early fall when the fruit is ripe, remove impurities and dry in the sun.

Properties: pungent flavor, warm nature.

Functions: Appetizing and eating, regulating qi and dispersing cold, and helping the yang channel. Indications: cold in the middle Jiao, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, abdominal cold pain; hernia pain, testicular swelling and pain; stagnation of qi in the spleen and stomach, epigastric distension and pain.

Composition: Contains volatile oil, mainly anisole, cumin ketone, methyl piperitol, anisaldehyde and other components.

Sex and flavor: pungent flavor, warm nature. It enters the kidney, bladder and stomach meridians.

Use: As a flavor, decoction, or in pills and powder.

Note: Not recommended for those with solid heat or deficiency fire.

Annexed prescription: 1, cumin pill: cumin 15 g, pepper 10 g. Ground, wine paste as pills, each time to take 3 ~ 6 g, warm wine sent down. Derived from "Three Causes Formula". This formula disperses cold, regulates qi, and has strong pain-relieving effect. It is used for hernia, cold pain and distension in the abdomen.2, Cumin and Hovenia Radix: 30g of cumin, 15g of Hovenia Radix, slightly fried and powdered, take 6g each time, and send it down with warm boiled water. Derived from "Pocket Formula". Fennel with the combination of Qi stagnation of hedgehog shells, *** play the effect of regulating qi and pain. Used for liver and stomach stagnation of qi, epigastric and abdominal distension and pain under the hypochondrium.