Mediterranean cuisine to Catalonia and Murcia along Spain's Mediterranean coast. It comes in many versions, and may contain a mixture of chicken, pork, rabbit, or shellfish, sautéed in olive oil in a large shallow pan, with vegetables, and typically round-grain rice (often of the local "albufera", "arròs bomba", "sénia" varieties or similar) cooked to absorb the water and coloured with saffron. The dish may be varied with artichoke hearts, peas, sweet peppers, lima beans, string beans, or sausages. Anise is used around the Mediterranean to flavour spirits including French "pastis" and "absinthe"; Greek "ouzo"; Bulgarian "mastika"; Italian "sambuca"; Spanish "anísado"; Turkish "rakı";
Ouzo more commonly as "ouzo yeast"—"μαγιά ούζου" in Greek—the term for "yeast" being used by Greeks metaphorically to denote that it serves as the starting point for ouzo production. The "ouzo yeast" is then distilled. After several hours of distillation, a flavored distillate of approximately 80 ABV (% Alcohol By Volume) is produced. The spirit at the beginning of the distillation (heads) and end (tails) is usually removed to avoid light and heavy alcohols and aromatics. The heads and tails are usually mixed and distilled again. The product of this second distillation can be used to produce a different quality ouzo.