Spices & Herbs Codexery

Cumin

A flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region, whose dried seeds are used as a spice.

Its dried seeds are used as a spice in cuisines worldwide, in both whole and ground form.[1] The flowering plant known as cumin (Cuminum cyminum) belongs to the Apiaceae family and is indigenous to the Irano-Turanian Region.[1] No robust scientific evidence confirms that cumin is either safe or effective when used therapeutically.[2]

Quick Facts

Genus
Cuminum
Species
cyminum

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

The English word "cumin" comes via Middle English and Old French from the Latin term cuminum, which traces back through Ancient Greek and Semitic languages to the Akkadian kamūnu and ultimately the Sumerian gamun.[3] Seeds of wild cumin were excavated at the submerged settlement of Atlit-Yam, dated to the early 6th millennium BC.[4] India is the world's largest producer, accounting for about 70% of global production, and produced 856,000 tons in the 2020–2021 fiscal year.[5] Cumin is a drought-tolerant tropical or subtropical crop, vulnerable to frost, with an optimum growth temperature between 25 and 30 °C.[6]

This annual herb reaches a total height of 30–50 cm, featuring slender, branched stems that individually measure 20–30 cm tall, and it bears small white or pink flowers arranged in umbels.[7][8] In ancient Crete, cumin held importance for the Minoan civilization, as evidenced by ideograms representing the spice that appear on Linear A tablets from palace archives.[9] Spanish and Portuguese colonists brought cumin to the Americas.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cumin", Merriam-Webster: Dictionary, 8 February 2024; "Cumin", Oxford Learner's Dictionaries; "Cumin", Merriam-Webster: Dictionary, 8 February 2024; "Cumin", Oxford Learner's Dictionaries; "Cumin", Merriam-Webster: Dictionary, 8 February 2024; Kislev, "Archaeobotanical and archaeoentomological evidence from a well at Atlit-Yam indicates colder, more humid climate on the Israeli coast during the PPNC period", Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2004, p (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cumin", Drugs.com, 21 April 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "CUMIN | Meaning & Definition for UK English", Lexico.com; Heinrich Zimmern (1915) Akkadische Fremdwörter als Beweis für babylonischen Kultureinfluss (in German), Leipzig: A. Edelmann, page 57; "Handbook of Herbs and Spices", Woodhead Publishing, 2012-01-01, p. 250–259; http://oracc.org/epsd2/o0027818; version 2.7.2 (built 2024-08-31) (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zohary, "Domestication of plants in the Old World", Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 206; Nabhan, "Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey", Univ of California Press, 2014, p. 234; "Cumin", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018; Kislev, "Archaeobotanical and archaeoentomological evidence from a well at Atlit-Yam indicates colder, more humid climate on the Israeli coast during the PPNC period", Journal of Archaeological Science, September 2004, p; Pickersgill, "The Cultural History of Plants", Routledge, 2005, p. 162; Zohary, "Domestication of plan en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rahman, "Market Analysis of Cumin Seed", crcna.com.au; "Cumin : Area, Production and Productivity in India", dasd.gov.in, June 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cuminum cyminum (Cumin, Cummin, Jeera)", plants.ces.ncsu.edu; North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox; Sastry, "Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sastry, "Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sastry, "Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production"; Sastry, "Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production"; Sastry, "Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production"; Słowianek, "New allergens from spices in the Apiaceae family: anise Pimpinella anisum L. and caraway Carum carvi L.", Central-European Journal of Immunology, 2020, p. 241–247 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Castleden, Rodney, "Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete”, Routledge, London & New York, 1990, p.52. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Cumin" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cumin", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018; Bird Seed Aliens in Britain (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Cumin (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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