All About Caraway Seeds | Know Your Spice Caraway (Carum carvi)

Benefits of Caraway Seeds – Carum carvi spice is used for culinary purposes and for flavouring bread, biscuits, cakes and cheese.

Caraway fruits, commonly (erroneously) called seeds, when ripened splits into narrow elongated carpel, 4 to 6.5mm long, curved, pointed at ends with 5 longitudinal ridges on the surface.

Amongst health benefits of Caraway Seeds is its notable ability for aid weight loss, relieving inflammation & promoting digestive health.

To easily extract benefits of caraway, a recipe to make caraway tea for easy absorption in human body is given below.

This red spice information card below gives you a snapshot of the caraway spice you’ll read about. Do share this spice card with your friends & spread the knowledge.

Humans have been harvesting and using caraway for its culinary and medicinal properties since the Neolithic period.

Caraway is native to Asia as well as northern and central Europe. First used in antiquity, Caraway has been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages.

Evidence of Caraway’s use in medieval times comes from seeds found in debris in lakes in Switzerland. Caraway is thought to be the spice used longer than any other in Europe.

Writings from the 17th century indicate that Caraway Seed was used in breads, fruits, and cakes, and considered a digestive aid.

Caraway was mentioned by the Greek Dioscorides as a herb and tonic. It was later mentioned in the Roman Apicius as an ingredient in recipes.

Later, caraway was known in the Arab world as karauya, and cultivated in Morocco.

Caraway seeds have a nutty, bittersweet sharpness in flavour with a hint of citrus, pepper, and anise (licorice).

Caraway’s high concentration of natural essential oils gives the spice its unique flavor profile.

These volatile oils, combined with the plant’s dense supply of antioxidants, provide many of the medicinal and health benefits of caraway.

Due to its essential oils—primarily carvone, limonene, and anethole—caraway has a sharp, stimulating aroma that is slightly minty or peppery.

Caraway Seed is a common flavoring for many kinds of rye bread. It is also used to flavor sauerkraut, sausage, cheese, cabbage, and soups.

Caraway is also used in desserts, liquors, casseroles, and other foods.

Its leaves can be added to salads, stews, and soups, and are sometimes consumed as herbs, either raw, dried, or cooked, similar to parsley.

The root is consumed as a winter root vegetable in some places, similar to parsnips.

Caraway oil is used to for the production of Kümmel liquor in Germany and Russia, Scandinavian akvavit, Icelandic brennivín.

In Middle Eastern cuisine, caraway pudding, called meghli, is a popular dessert during Ramadan.

Caraway seeds oil is also used as a fragrance component in soaps, lotions, and perfumes. Caraway is also used as a breath freshener, and it has a long tradition of use in folk medicine.

Properly stored, caraway seeds will generally stay at best quality for about 3 to 4 years.

To maximize the shelf life of caraway seed or siyahi jeera purchased in bulk, and to better retain flavor and potency, store it in airtight containers.

Store caraway seeds or shahi jeera in a cool, dark place. Once you open a jar of caraway seeds, store it in the fridge. This will help you maximize the shelf life of your caraway seeds or siyahi jeera.

• Add caraway seeds to bread, muffin and scone dough.
• Sprinkle lightly toasted seeds over your salads, particularly potato or a cheese salad.
• Sprinkle caraway seeds over bread with olive oil.
• Caraway is a main ingredient of the German “sauerkraut”.
• Sprinkle caraway seeds over cream cheese on bread or toast.
• Caraway seeds add a spicy flavour to a plain carrot salad.
• Caraway seeds may be added to some spicy biscuit or cake mixtures.
• The seeds are often added to pickling mixtures. Caraway tea is an easiest way to gain its benefits.
• Add caraway seeds to cheese omelettes or even macaroni cheese.
• Add seeds to coleslaw and other dishes made with cabbage. This will help the digestion of the cabbage.
• Caraway is often paired with apple, in either sweet or savoury dishes.
• Caraway is one of the ingredients of the Tunisian hot paste accompaniment to meat and fish “harissa”.
• Add to sausage meat mixtures or pork pâtés.
• Add caraway seeds to dumpling dough.
• Caraway seeds can be added to lentil soup or lentil stew after cooking.

Sauerkraut with caraway seeds

Aniseeds – Out of all the possible substitutes, aniseed hits the mark because of its similarity to caraway seeds in that both have licorice notes in their flavour profile.

Fennel seeds – fennel seeds share strong licorice notes just like anise seeds and caraway.

Nigella seeds – Just like caraway, anise and fennel, nigella seeds deliver licorice notes –and this is why it makes for a worthy substitute.

Star anise – This spice is known for its particularly strong flavor, so if you have star anise pods on hand, you might find the licorice notes overpowering the other notes in your dish.

Caraway Seeds are well available in well-stocked grocery stores, supermarkets, and natural food stores. You’ll find them usually down the condiment or spices aisle.

They are also easily found in specialty and gourmet food stores as well as online. Caraway Seeds are typically packaged in 100 gram jars or packets.

Health Benefits of Caraway Seeds or Benefits of Siyahi Jeera

Different parts of the shahi jeera plant are recommended for treating different conditions:

Here are some notable Health Benefits of Caraway Seeds;

• Health Benefits of Shahi Jeera as an Antioxidant – Several caraway compounds demonstrate strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Health Benefits of Caraway Seed against Digestive Disorders – Caraway belongs to a class of herbs called carminatives (aka aromatic digestive tonics or aromatic bitters), which are plants helpful in easing gastrointestinal discomfort. An easy caraway tea helps for this.
• Health Benefits of Siyahi Jeera in Iron Deficiency –For those who are iron deficient, increasing caraway intake can help to decrease fatigue and weakness, and improve athletic performance.
• Health Benefits of Caraway Seed for Weight Loss –Early research in overweight and obese women shows that taking caraway seed extract for 3 months may slightly decreases body weight. Easy to make caraway tea helps for this.
• Health Benefits of Shahi Jeera against Sleeplessness –Caraway Seeds might help individuals sleep with its high-content of magnesium. Magnesium is associated with enhancing the quality, duration, as well as tranquility of sleep.
• Caraway Seed Oil is Antimicrobial – Caraway essential oil performs medium antimicrobial activity, although it inhibits growth of many bacteria and fungi.
• Health Benefits of Caraway as Diuretic – The ripe fruits of caraway are used as diuretic in Moroccan Traditional Medicine.
• Health Benefits of Shahi Jeera for Reproductive Organs – The modulation effects of caraway on sexual function and fertility in females have been claimed in Egyptian folk medicine. Easy to make caraway tea helps for this.