Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Cumin along with all the Cumin containing recipes presented on this site, with 1216 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

As a spice Cumin (also known as white cumin) is the dried fruit of the Cuminum cyminum plant which is a member of the Apiaceae (also known as Umbelliferae) family. It is therefore related to carrots, caraway and fennel and distantly related to Black Cumin (see above). The plant is native from the eastern Mediterranean through to India. Cumin is an herbaceous plant with a slender branched stem that grows to some 20–30 cm tall. The leaves are 5–10 cm long with thread-like leaflets. The flowers themselves are small and, like all members of the Apiaciae family, are borne in umbrella-like structures called umbels. Cumin is used as a spice for its distinctive aroma, and is popular in North African, Middle Eastern, western Chinese, Indian and Mexican cuisine.

Cumin is strongly aromatic; the aroma is charac­teristic and gets easily modified by frying or dry toasting. It is one of the world's most commonly used spices. The fruit contain 2.5 to 4% essential oil. In the essential oil, cumin aldehyde (p-isopropyl-benzaldehyde, 25 to 35%), further­more perilla aldehyde, cumin alcohol, α- and β-pinene (21%), dipentene, p-cymene and β-phellandrene were found. In toasted cumin fruit, a large number of pyrazines has been identified as flavour compounds. Besides pyrazine and various alkyl derivatives (particularly, 2,5- and 2,6-dimethyl pyrazine), 2-alkoxy-3-alkylpyrazines seem to be the key compounds (2-ethoxy-3-isopropyl pyrazine, 2-methoxy-3-sec-butyl pyrazine, 2-methoxy-3-methyl pyrazine).

Cumin is particularly associated with Indian cookery (where it is a component of most curry powders) and Mexican cuisine. The name itself probably derives from the Sumerian word gamun which entered Latin as cuminum.

In Western Asia, cumin has been cultivated for at least 5000 years, though the main producers today include India, Iran, Indonesia, China and the South Medi­terranean. The English name, cumin derives from the Latin cuminum, which, itself, was borrowed from the Greek kyminon [κύμινον]. It is probable that the Greek is a borrowing from a Semitic language Aramaic kamuna [‫ܟܡܘܢܐ‬], Old Hebrew kammon [‫כמן‬], Egyptian kamnini, Akkadian kamûnu. The Akkadian name may well, itself, be a borrowing from the older, Sumarian, form, gamun [𒂵𒁵, 𒁷𒌁, 𒌁].

Though it used to be a common spice in the Roman Empire, it is hardly used in Europe today (exceptions are to flavour some cheeses). But it is an important spice in North Africa, Latin America, the Indian Subcontinent and Asia. Indeed, it is one of the important constituents of the Indian spice mixture, garam masala [गरम मसाला]. It is also used to flavour the yoghurt-based drinks, lassis. Cumin is also characteristic of North African tagines (see below).

Cumin is native to Western Asia, where it has been cultivated since ancient times. The main producers today are India, Iran, Indonesia, China and the countries of the South Medi­terranean.