Plant
Cumin
Cuminum cyminum
Also known as: Cuminum cyminum
An annual herb in the carrot family (Apiaceae), native to the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia. The small dried seeds are one of the most-traded spices in the world by volume, foundational to Indian, Middle Eastern, North African, Mexican, and Texan/American Southwestern cuisines. Cumin is one of the oldest documented cultivated spices — seeds have been recovered from 6,000-year-old Syrian archaeological sites; the species was central to ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman cooking and medicine.
Scientific
Cuminum cyminum (family Apiaceae) is in the same family as [[carrot]], [[parsley]], [[fennel]], [[cilantro]], and [[dill]]. The plant is a slender annual; the harvested part is the small dried seeds (technically achene fruits). Principal aromatic compound: cuminaldehyde and related compounds.
The genus is monotypic — Cuminum cyminum is the only commercially significant species. “Black cumin” (Nigella sativa or Bunium persicum, depending on which is meant) is a different plant in a different family and should not be confused with true cumin.
Cultural and historical
Cumin appears in Egyptian medical papyri (~1500 BCE); the seeds have been found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The Greeks and Romans used cumin extensively — Pliny describes it as the only spice that made fashionable Romans appear pale and studious (consumed in excess, supposedly).
Foundational cuisine applications:
- Indian — jeera is one of the four canonical Indian seed spices alongside [[mustard]], [[fennel]], and [[fenugreek]]; toasted whole in oil at the start of countless dishes (the tarka / chaunk technique); ground into garam masala blends
- Middle Eastern — Lebanese kibbeh, Egyptian koshary, Yemeni zhug, Iranian abgoosht
- North African — Moroccan tagines and ras el hanout, Tunisian harissa, Egyptian dukkah
- Mexican — taco seasoning, adobo, refried beans
- Tex-Mex / American Southwest — chili powder blends rely heavily on cumin
The Spanish-Portuguese 16th-century carriage of cumin into Latin America transformed Mexican cuisine permanently — the entire modern Mexican spice profile is partly cumin-based, despite the species being a 16th-century arrival.
Global production
Top producers: India (~70% of global supply), Syria, Turkey, Iran, China.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Shares approach with: [[carrot]] · [[parsley]] · [[fennel]] · [[cilantro]] · [[dill]] · [[mustard]] · [[fenugreek]]
- Member of: [[plants]]
Sources
- Wikipedia — Cumin
A plant entry in the 0mn1.one [[directory]].
What links here, and how
Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.
Scientific
cousin of
- Cilantro / coriander Apiaceae kin — and culinary kin: cumin (the seed) and coriander (also a seed, from cilantro) are paired in almost every Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern curry/spice mix.
Cultural
7 inbound links · 8 outbound