Cumin

Type: Spices
Harvested in Spring
Serving Size: 1/8 tsp
Species: Cuminum cyminum
Family: Apiaceae

analgesic	anthelminthic	antimicrobial
antispasmodic	aromatic	carminative
decongestant	detoxicant	digestive
diuretic	galactagogue

  Ayurvedic notes

If you've ever asked, "why does this taste so good?" you've probably encountered cumin. Whether a tasty curry, a mixed pickle, or a helping of beans, cumin is the flavor that highlights delicious meals worldwide, from North Africa to Cuba. It is essential not just because of its unmistakable pungent flavor, but because the benefits of the spice go on and on, just like its versatility in recipes. Only black pepper is a more popular spice worldwide. Cumin is native to Syria, where it thrives in hot and arid conditions. Cumin imparts the qualities of its native land into food, bringing the dry warmth of a sunny desert day. 

  Cumin & Digestion

Cumin is most famously employed to warm the digestive process so food is assimilated and digested comfortably. Its pungent taste warms and stimulates blood flow to digestive organs. Meanwhile, cumin's unique combination of bitters and aromatics stimulate peristalsis, the rhythmic contractions of your digestive tract. Peristalsis propels stagnant food and gas downward, which you may experience as a bit of gurgling as your digestive system resolves any issues. Together these tastes address the root causes of gas and bloating: slow breakdown of food, sluggish motility, and poor absorption of vitamins and nutrients.

  Cumin's Drying Effects

Cumin heats up and dries your body in early spring to help prepare your body for warmer weather ahead, effectively mimicking a hot cedar sauna. Its drying effect is useful for any spring dampness and excessive wetness in the body, such as mold allergies and congested lung conditions. It absorbs fluids from the large intestine helping to bind loose stool. It is a mild diuretic that can flush spring water weight.

  Skin & Blood Cleanser

Bitter is beautiful and cumin's bitterness is no exception. Bitter purifies the blood. Cumin's warm pungency and purifying bitters encourage clear complexion. Cumin opens the pores, revitalizing the skin and restoring color after a cold winter. These dilating and purifying properties have also been traditionally applied to reduce Vata type fevers, and to reduce tightness in the chest. Cumin is a stimulant useful to improve circulation and metabolism in general.

  Muscle Relaxant

Additionally, this mega-spice is an antispasmodic, meaning that it calms and smoothes spasms. The seeds are a treasure for women - soothing cramping around menstruation. It also relieves pain and inflammation of the uterus. Cumin, like many diaphoretic herbs that open the pores, promotes the flow of breast milk for new mothers. Cumin's Kapha clearing and antispamsmodic qualities were traditionally used during asthma attacks.

  Examples

Are beans difficult for you to digest? Spike your next hummus with a generous addition of ground cumin. Colicky kidneys? A tea of cumin and raw sugar was used to reduce renal colic. Tasty and multi-purposeful, cumin is safe for everyday use but should be taken in moderation only by those with digestive inflammation or other heat disorders. 

  About

Appreciated since ancient times, cumin's aroma has wafted through kitchens since at least the second millennium BC, even flavoring breads and soups mentioned in the Bible. The highly valued spice was a currency to pay tithes to priests. The ancient Egyptians used cumin in their cooking, and also as an ingredient to mummify the pharaohs, testifying to its use as an antimicrobial. Popular throughout the Middle Ages, cumin was regarded as a sign of love and devotion; wives sent their husbands off to war with a loaf of cumin-spiced bread. Cumin is a member of the carrot family like celery, and parsley.

  Buying & preparation

When buying cumin, favor the whole seeds. You can grind the seeds moments before adding to a recipe, using a coffee grinder, mortar and pestle, or other preferred spice grinder. Freshly ground spices have more prana or vital life force, thus more medicinal action as well as flavor. Once a seed is ground, it dies, and the prana diminishes. The volatile essential oils evaporate quickly along with the flavor and medicinal effects. Grinding just before use preserves cumins highly regarded flavor and health benefits.

  Cooking 
Cumin knows no borders. In Morocco, salt and cumin replace salt and black pepper on most kitchen tables. Texans turn to cumin to round out a prize-winning chili. Cumin is as essential to Middle Eastern baba ghanoush as tahini and lemon juice. Sure, many recognize the flavor of cumin in rich Mexican sauces, but in Chinese food? Yes, it appears even in the cuisine of Northeast China, spicing both lamb and fish.

Cumin's rustic, earthy tones make it a staple in soups and stews. A roasted root vegetable mix becomes exotic with a shake of the powdered spice. The same old squash soup becomes rich and lovely with a cumin's fragrant magic. The toasted seeds add an earthy heartiness to yogurt with a dash of mint. A large pinch lightens up a delicious guacamole.
Try cumin sprinkled on top of an omelet, in your favorite soups, or the whole seed in home fries. Try it in salad dressings, to add a rustic aroma to rice, or a hearty flavor to any bean dish. Try it in your favorite corn recipe. The powder mixed with honey can be used as a tasty jam/paste. Try sauteing them in oil, dry roasting them, or sprinkling the ground spice fresh.