Introduction

Cumin
    Family : Apiaceae/ Umbelliferae
    English name: Cumin
    Indian name : Jiro, Jeera, Zira or Safoid Jeero or Zeera (Hindi), Sofaid Jiro or Zeera (Bengali and Punjabi), Jiru or Jeeru (Gujarati), Jeerige (Kannada), Zyur (Kashmiri), Jeerakam (Malayalam), Jeregire ( Marathi), Jira, Jeera (Oriya), Jiraka, Jiro (Sanskrit), Zero(Sindhi), Ziragam or Jeeragom (Tamil), Jidakara, Jikaka (Telugu )
    Species : Cuminum cyminum L.
    Distribution : Egypt, Syria, India, Argentina, Cyprus, Denmark, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Morocco, Turkey, China, Indonesia, Japan
    Uses : Ayurvedic medicines, Veterinary drugs, Spice, Culinary purposes.
  • Cumin or Safaid jeera (Cumin urn cyminum L.) is one of the oldest spices known to mankind. It is the ripe fruit of a slender herb. Cumin seeds are yellowish to greyish-brown and have an aromatic odour due to the presence of an aromatic alcohol, cuminol, and a spicy somewhat bitter taste, and are extensively used as a condiment.
  • The essential oil of the seeds contains a-pinine (14.3- 19.7%), p-cymene (2.7-6.0%), terpinene (11.5-16.2%), cuminaldehyde (20-22.4%), p-menth-1,3-dien7-al (11.1-13.5%), p-menth-1, 4 dien¬7-al (23.6-24.3%), cuminyl alcohol (2.7-72.2%), sabinene (3.38%), benzyl cinnamate (4.47%) and farnesol (2.98%).
  • Cumin is used as an essential ingredient in all mixed spices and curry powder for flavouring soups, pastries, stews, sausages, pickles, cheese and for seasoning bakery products such as bread and cakes. Cumin oil is used in soaps, perfumery and for flavouring liquors and cordials. The absolute is superior to the oil for flavouring. Cumin aldehyde is also used in perfumery.
  • It is also used as a ingredient in many Ayuruedic medicines. It is prescribed as a stimulant and carminative in indigenous medicines. It is an astringent and is useful in flatulence and griping, and in conditions of diarrhoea and dyspepsia. Cumin seeds are now chiefly used in many veterinary drugs.
  • The distillation-residue water of the oil is given to children as carminative and is useful in flatulence and griping. The residue left over after the extraction of volatile oil contains 17.2% protein and 30% fat. It can be used as a cattle feed. The fixed oil could also find use in the oil, fat and soap industries.
Last modified: Monday, 18 June 2012, 10:22 AM