About Cumin Seeds Whole
The cumin spice has been used by cooks for thousands of years — bringing an earthy and slightly bitter flavor to popular dishes around the world. You would probably recognize cumin as a primary ingredient in many chili powder blends, taco seasonings, and pretty much all Tex-Mex cuisine. Add whole cumin seeds to your stews, curries, salads, meat rubs, couscous, rice dishes, and more! For an extra aromatic kick, try toasting the cumin seeds before adding to your recipes.
History of cumin
The culinary usage of cumin seeds has been documented in the ancient histories of many cultures — from Mesopotamia, to Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Rome, Syria, and India. Cumin was later introduced to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese colonists. Today, the main producers of cumin are India (70%), Turkey, Syria, and China.
About the cumin plant
Cumin is the dried seed of a flowering herb closely related to parsley; each seed is contained within a single fruit pod of the plant. At harvest, the whole cumin plant is removed, laid to dry, threshed to release seeds, and finally the separated seeds are dried once more — the goal is to reach approximately 10% moisture content.
