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Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the eastern Mediterranean region east to India.
It is a herbaceous annual plant, with a slender branched stem 20-30 cm tall. The leaves are 5-10 cm long, pinnate or bipinnate, with thread-like leaflets. The flowers are small, white or pink, and borne in umbels. The fruit is a laterally compressed fusiform or ovoid achene 4-5 mm long, containing a single seed. Cumin seeds are similar to fennel seeds, but are smaller and darker in colour.
Cultivation and uses
Cumin seeds are used as a spice for their distinctive aroma, popular in North African, Middle Eastern, western Chinese, Indian and Mexican cuisine.
Cumin fruits have a distinctive bitter flavour and strong, warm aroma due to their abundant essential oil content. Its main constituent and important aroma compound is cuminaldehyde (4-isopropylbenzaldehyde). Important aroma compounds of toasted cumin are the substituted pyrazines, 2-ethoxy-3-isopropylpyrazine, 2-methoxy-3-sec-butylpyrazine, and 2-methoxy-3-methylpyrazine. Their smell can also be detected in the eater's sweat even after consuming only small amounts.
Today, cumin is identified with Indian cuisine and Mexican cuisine. It is used as an ingredient of curry powder. Cumin can be found in some Dutch cheeses, and in some traditional breads from France. In herbal medicine, cumin is classified as stimulant, carminative, and antimicrobial.
Cumin can be used to season many dishes, as it draws out their natural sweetnesses. It is traditionally added to curries, enchiladas, tacos, and other Middle-eastern, Indian, Cuban and Mexican-style foods. It can also be added to salsa to give it extra flavour. Cumin has also been used on meat in addition to the traditional seasonings. The spice helps give any dish a Tex-Mex taste.
Cultivation of Cumin requires a long, hot summer with 3-4 months with daytime temperatures around 30 °C; it is drought tolerant, and is mostly grown in mediterranean climates. It is grown from seed sown in spring, and needs a fertile, well-drained soil.
History
Cumin has been grown and used as a spice since ancient times. Originally cultivated in Iran and the Mediterranean region, cumin is mentioned in the Bible in both the Old Testament (Isaiah 28:27) and the New Testament (Matthew 23:23). It was also known in ancient Greece and Rome. The Greeks kept cumin at the dining table in its own container (much as pepper is frequently kept today), and this practice continues in Morocco. Cumin fell out of favour in Europe except in Spain during the Middle Ages but is more widely used again today; it was introduced to the Americas by Spanish colonists. It is now mostly grown in Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, India, Syria, Mexico, and Chile.
The name cumin has a long history. Although the English form goes back to Latin cuminum, and Greek κύμινον, the Greek seems to have been borrowed from a Semitic source; forms of this word are attested in several ancient Semitic languages, including Akkadian. The ultimate source seems to be the Sumerian word gamun *.
A folk etymology connects the word with the Persian city Kerman, where, the story goes, most of ancient Persia's cumin was produced. For the Persians the expression "carrying cumin to Kerman" has the same meaning as the English language phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle". Kerman, locally called Kermun, would have became Kumun and then cumin in the European languages.
In India, cumin is known as jeera or geera; in Pakistan/Iran, cumin is known as zeera; in northwest China, cumin is known as ziran.
Confusion with other spices
Cumin is hotter to the taste, lighter in colour, and larger than caraway (Carum carvi), another umbelliferous spice that is sometimes confused with it. Some older cookbooks erroneously name ground coriander as the same spice as ground cumin.
The distantly related Bunium persicum and the unrelated Nigella sativa are both sometimes called black cumin (q.v.).
Curcumin is a chemical constituent extracted from turmeric.
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"Cumin"