“Cumin – the great reviver and appetizer” A Guest Article by - Urja Vidya Narayan
© Urja Vidya Narayan
To feel fresh, here is an inexpensive recipe.
Put some crushed, roasted cumin seeds, some fresh mint leaves, a little bit of red chilli powder, sugar and salt to taste in water, simmer it for 15 minutes. Let the drink cool and you can have it just like that with a squirt of lemon juice or you could enjoy it chilled! This energy drink is a great reviver as well as an appetizer and is a very popular drink in the dry, arid areas of India. Cumin seed is the heart of this drink and many more drinks and dishes in Asian cuisines. Cumin English and in French is in German: Kreuzkümmel, Italian: cumino, Spanish: comino, Arabic: kammun, Indonesian: jinten, Malay: jintan puteh, Sinhalese & Tamil: cheeregum and you may take a look at what really is cumin by clicking on - http://www.foodsubs.com/SpiceUniv.html
Asian spice racks are incomplete without jeera or cumin seeds. What we generally refer to as cumin seeds are actually the fruits, but I am going to refer to them as seeds just because most of us are comfortable calling them so.
Parsley is a very popularly used spice in Europe and other western regions, and cumin belongs to the parsley (umbelliferae) family. Other popular plants of this family are the carrot, anise, caraway, celery, dill) Cumin flavor is pretty popular all over the world and cumin flavored liquor Kummel is popular in Germany. The characteristic aroma of these seeds is due to cuminaldehyde -a volatile oil. This oil possesses many medicinal properties and is known to relieve flatulence and stomach ache. Little babies who have not learnt to walk or who can barely walk generally have less physical activity and therefore have higher chance of not digesting food properly.
They may get stomach ache frequently. As a precautionary major, Cumin seed extract is put in water and this drink is given to kids. This herbal medicine for kids is called Gripe water in India. Cumin seeds are known to aid digestion and they increase urine production as well. In the people who are nauseated or those who have dry mouth due to fever, the water containing cumin seeds extract proves useful.
Cumin is more popular in the east as a herbal remedy, and in west as a veterinary medicine for animals for relieving upset stomach and flatulence.
Go To Page: 1 2
