Raw anise seeds, full of iron

Years ago, I was paying for my meal at an Indian vegetarian restaurant. Right there at the payment counter was a bowl full of anise seeds. I asked the lady behind the counter what they were for and she said it was free for anyone to take, to chew, to freshen up their breathe. Much the same way restaurants and shops place big bowls of mint sweets at the payment counter. Better that than popping diabetic inducing sugar into your mouth, don’t you think?

But Anise seeds are not just good for your love social life.  The seeds are a good source of iron as well. One tablespoon of raw anise seeds (raw seeds are better than cooked seeds)  sprinkled on salads, raw cookies, curries or freshly cooked rice and so on provides 16% of the RDA for a woman and 24% of the RDA for a man. Girls hitting puberty certainly need lots of iron. I should know, because I was always anemic as a young teen (12-14 years old then), and often felt faint because of it. It’s no joke, and no fun. Imagine, having to take the public bus home and feeling faint in front of total strangers. You see, my school was near Kotaraya and I had to catch my bus home from the bus stand outside the Puduraya Bus Station. Those who know this area, know it’s not THE safest place for kids so you know,  I had to be careful. But tell you what, it’s nothing like the 36 hour GreyHound bus trip I took from Pittsburg Kansas all the way to a Chicago suburb dead of winter. Now, that’s scary!

Local public transportation. It’s an organized chaos.
You can’t see it, but the bus stop where I used to grab my bus back home is just across the other side of the road

Families who are poor and do not eat enough meat are in danger of not having enough iron. So do vegetarians. So do college students on bad diets. Eating anise seeds are a good way to go. If you are one of those who do charity works, please do buy a big bag of anise seeds and bring them along to donate to these people. Educate them on the importance of consuming these fragrant seeds in their diets. Anise seeds are cheap, so it’s a good excuse to eat more of it.

Info and pictures taken from http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_AB.htm and http://www.malaysiasite.nl/pudurayaeng.htm