From kormas and kebabs to chili con carne, today’s word is one of the spice world’s unsung heroes. It is not pungent like cinnamon or clove or fiery like pepper or mustard, it is one of those spices that you can’t quite place, a spice that gives a food or seasoning mix some warmth, and base notes of flavour. Though it has always been somewhat overlooked – like the drummer of your favourite band – people are finally starting to discover the great news about cumin. But before looking at the future, we need to understand the past.
The spice itself is the dried seed of the Cuminum cyminum, and, when whole, resembles caraway and dill. Originally cultivated in Persia and the Mediterranean region, the evidence of cumin’s use stretches back approximately 4000 years, having been found at the Tell-ed Der archaeological site in Iraq. Trade brought the spice to Egypt, where it was used in the mummification process, to Greece, where it was used on the dining table much like we use pepper, from India it spread through Southeast Asia as the Spanish and Portuguese brought it to the Americas. Today, it is cultivated in tropical, subtropical, and Mediterranean climates across the globe, with India producing 70% (and consuming 63%) of the annual 300,000 ton yield (that’s a lot of masalas!).
For the word itself, our word cumin, which we used to spell cymen in Old English, has quite a long lineage. In a direct sense, it comes from the Latin cuminum, which is a form of the Greek kyminon, which goes back through Linear B, Hebrew, and Akkadian to its ultimate source, the Sumerian gamun. Not only does the word have a long lineage, but its use in English is, comparatively, just as long: our word first appears in King Alfred’s translation of Pope Gregory I’s Pastoral Care (circa 897), which states: “you tithe your mint and your dill and your cumin.” Interestingly, the Old English spelling of cymen and the transitional spelling of comyn would be used until Nathan Bailey’s 1736 Dictionarium Domesticum, used the more modern spelling, stating that: “Cumin is accounted good for the stomach.”
Aside from flavour, what is really motivating people to use cumin in their cooking are the recently discovered health benefits. For example, cumin, along with being high in antioxidants, has also been found to reduce cholesterol, be beneficial to heart health, improve immune system function, and increase bone density.
So, do not worry about ordering the big bowl of chili or the full-portion of masala, it is for your health!
