By Joel Denker
The potatoes in the buffet tray were flecked with brown seeds. At Jolt ’N Bolt, the 18th Street coffee house, aloo jeera, the peppery side dish, was decorated with coriander leaves. It was one of an array of Indian masalas and curries (masalas are a thicker stew than curries)—eggplant, spinach, meatball, tofu—that are offered throughout the day at the café.
I was obsessed with the brownish seeds, which were roasted cumin, a spice I knew little about. They were indispensable to Indian food, a critical component of the garam (hot) masala, the spice blend used in so many dishes. Curries were incomplete without their assistance. Mexican dishes and Tex-Mex inventions like chili depended on the fragrance. The tiny seed was at once powerful and almost invisible. “If you don’t know what it is, you’ll miss it,” proprietor
Farooq Munir noted. Yet, without its potent aroma, many a culinary creation would be weakened. Farooq adds: “It peps up the food taste.”
I did not realize that cumin was a flowering plant in the same family, umbelliferae, as dill, fennel, coriander, parsley, and anise, among others. They have in common an umbrella-shaped cluster of blossoms atop a tall stalk. Cumin, which bears white or rose-colored flowers, packs its aroma in its seeds, which are actually fruits. Cumin’s robust smell comes from the intense oils in the seeds.
Where did this flavor enhancer originate?
∼
To learn more about cumin, see The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat, coming in October from Rowman & Littlefield: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442248861/The-Carrot-Purple-and-Other-Curious-Stories-of-the-Food-We-Eat.
