Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Nigella Seeds along with all the Nigella Seeds containing recipes presented on this site, with 38 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.

Nigella seeds (also known as Fennel flower, Nutmeg flower, Onion seed, Gith, Kalonji Seeds, blackseeds [and, falsely, Black Cumin]) are produced by the plant Nigella sativa — though there are about 14 species of Nigella in all, which are annual plants in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family; all native to southern Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia. The plants grow to about 70cm tall and have finely divided leaves, the leaf segments narrowly linear to threadlike. The flowers are white, yellow, pink, pale blue or pale purple, with 5–10 petals. The fruit is a capsule composed of several united follicles, each containing numerous seeds. Of these, however, only Nigella sativa is used in a culinary context.

The seeds of N sativa are used as a spice in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. The black seeds are small and sharp-edged and have a peppery, slightly nutty, taste and are generally used as a pepper substitute in recipes that incorporate pod fruit, vegetables, salads and poultry. They also feature as an ingredient in a number of spice blends, such as Bengali Panch Phoron.

Nigella seeds have little or no aroma, but when chewed or ground they develop an aromatic but slightly bitter taste that smells vaguely of oregano. There is little pungency, however (apart in the unripe seeds). The main aromatic components of the essential oil are thymoquinone, p-cymene, and to a lesser extent α-pinene. The plant is cultivated across the middle and near east, from Egypt to India.

Iran is the cultural home of nigella usage as a spice, and from there the Moghuls introduced it to northern India. Like mustard seeds, nigella seeds develop their fullest flavour when fried in oil prior to use. In Turkey, Lebanon and Iran, however, they tend to be used as additives to bread.

The common English name, 'nigella' is a diminutive derivative of the Latin niger (black). The other common name of kalonji seeds comes from the Hindi/Urdu [कलौंजी] kalauṃjī or [कलोंजी] kaloṃjī.