Cumin

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is a small plant of the parsley family whose long, thin brown-yellow seeds are harvested for use as a spice. Cumin seeds have a warm, heavy spicy-sweet aroma and a pungent, sharp and slightly bitter flavour that may be used in savoury dishes such as curries, stews and casseroles - especially those containing lamb or chicken.

Ground Cumin

Cumin Seeds

This native eastern Mediterranean plant is also grown in northern Africa, India and Mexico where it is a popular ingredient in many recipes. For example, in Spain it is used as a seasoning for chick-peas, it flavours fish soup in the Canaries and in Mexico it is added to chilli con carne and enchiladas. In North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean it is used in couscous, with stewed lamb, on kebabs, and to spice vegetable and rice dishes and yogurt. It is used in India for curries, lentil dishes and zeera pani - a refreshing drink made from cumin and tamarind water.

Cumin is also used to spice cheese, such as Norwegian nøkkelost and Dutch leyden, and burned with woods to smoke cheeses and meats. Cumin is often combined with coriander seeds, which counteracts its bitterness, in soups, stews and rice dishes.

The seeds may be used whole or ground; however, as the ground seeds soon lose their pungency, it is usually better to buy cumin seeds and grind them as and when they are needed. Dry frying the seeds before using them releases their heady aroma and makes them easier to grind.