My first encounter with cumin was while eating lamb kebabs. This was in the mid-1990s, after the reform and opening-up. "Like a spring breeze blowing in overnight," lamb kebab vendors sprang up on the streets and alleys of Yangzhou city. With a simple table, two stools, a rudimentary charcoal grill, and skewers of lamb, the air was filled with the enticing and fragrant aroma of lamb and cumin amidst curling smoke and a mix of Xinjiang dialect and the local vernacular. To this day, whenever I recall those scenes, my mouth still waters.
Cumin is the fruit of an annual or biennial herb in the Apiaceae family, Cuminum cyminum, also known as cummin, bishop's weed, or Roman caraway. The name "cumin" comes from the Uyghur language and is also called "anise of Assyria." Assyria is said to be an ancient Central Asian region, now part of Iran, so it is also called "caraway." Cumin is produced in countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe, including China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, Albania, Tunisia, Cyprus, and Turkey. Xinjiang is China's sole cumin production base, with a history of over 1,000 years. It is mainly produced in areas like Kashgar, Hotan, and Turpan, with large cultivation areas. The cumin seeds produced there are plump, glossy in color, rich in aroma, and of excellent quality. Due to its oily nature, strong and aromatic fragrance, and its ability to remove gamey odors and reduce the greasiness of meat, cumin has become an essential and important seasoning for Islamic people. Ethnic groups in Northwest China, such as the Uyghur, Hui, Kirgiz, and Kazakh peoples, are adept at using cumin as an important condiment, especially for grilled meats, creating a unique flavor.
In recent years, with the rapid improvement of people's living standards, cumin seasoning is no longer exclusive to beef and mutton. It has gradually expanded to a wide range of recipes, including vegetarian dishes, seafood, and hot pot. It has also rapidly spread from north to south, with women and the younger generation particularly fond of grilled food with cumin. Cumin has even entered "ordinary households." In fact, when cooking at home, besides using it for grilled meat, you can also add a little to dishes like shredded stir-fried potatoes, shredded pork with green peppers, or braised tofu. Using cumin in home cooking not only makes dishes more flavorful but also gives them a distinctive character. When cooking, you can use whole cumin seeds, grind them into a coarse mix, or buy cumin powder directly. Before use, whole cumin seeds should have their impurities removed, be repeatedly rinsed with clean water, and then air-dried or oven-dried. For storage, they should be placed in bottles or jars to prevent the aroma from dissipating over time. When cumin meets oil or is heated at high temperatures, its aroma becomes more intense. Therefore, in addition to grilling, it is suitable for cooking methods like pan-frying, deep-frying, and stir-frying.
In India and the Middle East, cumin is a must in curry powders and chili powders. It is also used to make sauces for dipping bread baked with cumin, and to remove the gamey taste from meat dishes made by chopping meat into patties. Influenced by this, Germans also add cumin when making sausages. The Dutch add it to cheese, and Spanish paella also contains cumin, though it is rarely appreciated today. Spaniards have a saying, "me importa un comino," which literally means "I don't care as much as one cumin seed," but actually means "I don't care at all." From this, it can be seen that cumin has become deeply integrated into the daily lives of people around the world.
In cooking, besides using whole cumin seeds, you can also use crushed cumin, cumin powder, and even cumin essential oil. In the food industry, foreign countries have long been mass-producing cumin essential oil to formulate and use food flavorings. Food enterprises in China's Xinjiang region have also extracted cumin essential oil, increasing the utilization rate of flavor substances in cumin by 70%. The prepared grilled meat flavoring can be used as a seasoning for grilled and microwave foods with beef or lamb flavors, and it can also be widely used in the modern food industry. For example, it is mainly used in cooked meat products where a cumin flavor needs to be highlighted, especially beef and lamb products such as Chinese and Western-style hams, lamb kebabs, and meatballs. It can also be used as an ingredient for frozen foods, puffed foods, and household seasonings.
In addition to being used as a seasoning, cumin also has certain medicinal and dietary value. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cumin is sweet, pungent, warm, and non-toxic, with effects such as warming the spleen, stimulating appetite, promoting qi circulation, aiding digestion, resolving food stagnation, dispelling cold, and removing dampness. In the ancient Chinese medical text "Pufang," there are records of using cumin to treat indigestion, stomach cold, and abdominal pain. Therefore, people with a cold stomach can add a little cumin when cooking or grilling meat to dispel the cold. According to the "Tang Ben Cao," if roasted cumin is ground into a powder and taken with vinegar, it can also treat angina pectoris and insomnia. Cumin also has health benefits such as calming the nerves, relieving pain, refreshing the mind, promoting blood circulation, reducing internal heat, balancing the liver, and strengthening the kidneys. Furthermore, a compound preparation called Kaliziran Tincture, made from cumin extract, can be used to treat vitiligo.
Cumin is delicious but should not be consumed in large quantities; 3g to 8g is sufficient for seasoning. Moreover, cumin is considered "hot" in nature, so the amount used should not be excessive, and it should be eaten even less in the summer. It is suitable for people with indigestion, a cold and painful stomach, or kidney deficiency and frequent bowel movements. People with constipation or hemorrhoids should consume it sparingly or not at all. At the same time, because cumin has preservative and antibacterial properties, adding a little when cooking can help preserve the food.
In recent years, fake cumin is often sold on the market, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. A common method to tell them apart is to put a small amount of cumin in water. Real cumin should float on the surface, and the water should remain clear. If it sinks to the bottom or the water becomes cloudy, it may be adulterated cumin.