Agastache foeniculum
Anise hyssop is a fragrant perennial in the mint family with leaves and flower spikes that smell distinctly of sweet anise and licorice when handled.1 In New England it turns up in gardens, roadsides, and other open disturbed places, and it also sits comfortably in the region as an edible herb grown for both pollinators and the kitchen.23
The flowers are usually the part that catches attention first, but the leaves carry the same perfume and are often the more forceful ingredient. That flavor profile helps explain why the plant can move between tea, savory infusions, and sweet applications without feeling out of place: it reads part mint, part fennel, and part basil rather than like a single blunt note.13
In New England it is not a deep old wild staple so much as a plant that has settled comfortably into gardens and disturbed ground while remaining very usable as food.24 Native Plant Trust notes its long bloom season and strong attractiveness to pollinators, which is part of why it keeps getting planted even when the original intention is ornamental rather than culinary.3
Because the flavor is volatile and easily overdone, anise hyssop usually makes the most sense as a late or cool addition rather than something cooked hard for a long time. The plant is useful precisely because it brings a Northeast-grown herbaceous sweetness that can freshen ferments, drinks, and dairy-like projects without needing citrus or imported spice to do the same work.13
Footnotes
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John Vaughan and Catherine Geissler, The New Oxford Book of Food Plants, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 201 (PDF p. 236). ↩ ↩2 ↩3
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Arthur Haines, New England Wild Flower Society’s Flora Novae Angliae (Yale University Press, 2011), PDF p. 670. ↩ ↩2
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Native Plant Trust, “Agastache foeniculum — Anise hyssop,” accessed July 21, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Native Plant Trust, “Agastache foeniculum (lavender giant-hyssop),” accessed July 24, 2026. ↩