QUESTION: Is there a difference between anise and fennel? I use fennel because I can’t find anise in local stores.

ANSWER: Fennel and anise have similar, licorice-like flavors. But the form is different.

Florence fennel, the type you usually see in markets, is a root vegetable with a feathery frond. The bulbous root can be sliced and cooked like a vegetable, while the frond can be minced and used the way you’d use a fresh herb. The flavor is similar to anise, but much milder, sweeter and more delicate.

Fennel seed, usually dried and used to flavor sausage, comes from a related plant called common fennel.

Anise is classified as a spice. You rarely encounter the plant, just the seed, sometimes called aniseed.

It’s used to flavor a lot of things and has been popular since ancient times. It turns up in drinks from Greek ouzo to French pastis to Italian anisette and in breads and pastries from Europe through the Mediterranean and all the way to India. The flavor comes from a volatile oil in the seed, called anethol.

You’re most likely to find dried anise in the spice section of a well-stocked supermarket, particularly in areas of the country where there are large populations of people of Italian descent. Dried fennel seed should be easy to find in supermarket spice sections.

QUESTION: What is star anise? And how do you pronounce it — a-NIECE or ANN-is?

ANSWER: Star anise, found almost exclusively in Asia, comes from a relative of the magnolia tree, but it also has anethol. It’s a dried fruit with a distinctive star shape that usually has eight points, or carpels. The flavor is very similar to anise, but a little more bitter. It’s one of the ingredients in Chinese five-spice powder.

Different people pronounce it different ways, but ANN-ihs is the most common for both forms.