Spice files: Cumin

Indian cooking uses more than 40 spices, with a couple of dozen being in the pantry of every serious Indian chef. In no particular order, we will take a look at the most common of these and point you to dishes where our chefs make them shine.

Coriander’s makes a point of sourcing its ingredients from local suppliers and we always opt for the best quality. This and the decades of experience of our chefs mean our customers can rely on us to consistently provide them with their favourite flavours at any of our five restaurants.

Cumin

The seeds of the cumin plant (Cuminum cyminum) have been used as a spice for thousands of years – in fact, seeds of wild cumin dated to 6000 years BC have been excavated in the now-submerged ancient Mediterranean settlement of Atlit-Yam.

In India, cumin seeds have been used for millennia in countless recipes and form the base of many other spice blends. Ground cumin powder is one of the key ingredients in garam masala spice mix. Cumin gives food an earthy, warming and aromatic character while aiding digestion and boosting the immune system.

India is the world’s largest producer of cumin, accounting for about 70 percent of production.