Caraway
Description .Cumin is a two-year herbaceous plant of the celery family( Apiaceae).Stem grooved, straight, branched from the bottom, hollow inside, 60-80 cm high. Leaves regular, oblong, doubly or triple;the lower leaves have long petioles, and the upper leaves are sessile.
Flowers are small, sitting on long pedicels, collected in complex umbrella inflorescences. Corolla regular with white, sometimes pink petals.
Fruit is an oblong brown double-sperm that breaks down into 2 half-fruits, which have a strong aromatic odor and a peculiar spicy taste. Blooms in May-June. Fruits ripen in July-August. Cumin fruits have a strong aroma, a bitterish spicy taste. Weight of 1000 seeds - 2-4 g.
Root fleshy, fusiform. Stem branched, erect, knotty, bare.
Cumin is common in all areas of the central Russian belt. It grows on damp places, glades, on floodplain meadows of small rivers, near roads, pastures.
Medicinal raw materials: fruits.
Biological features of .Cumin is not demanding for heat and is resistant to frost, so it is cultivated in the north. This light-loving plant, especially in the first year of life. Naturally, when planting cumin under the cover of other crops, its yield is significantly reduced. Refers to hygrophilous crops, yielding high yields only in areas with sufficient moisture.
A biennial plant of the umbrella family, cold-resistant and even frost-resistant, so it can be grown everywhere. To the soil, cumin is undemanding, but does not grow on boggy, heavily acidic or saline soils, does not like clay and sand.
You can sow it right in the soil in the early spring. Seedlings should be thinned out. If the site is not digested in autumn, the cumin will be renewed by self-seeding.
Distribution of .It occurs almost throughout Europe, in the CIS it grows in forest and forest-steppe Siberia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Crimea, and sometimes in the steppe zone. It grows in meadows, beams, pastures, roadsides. Cultivated in Norway, Holland, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, England, Spain, Morocco, Japan, in the mountainous regions of the USA and India. In Ukraine it is cultivated in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions.
Chemical composition. The main constituent of cumin seeds is essential oil( 3-6%).Depending on the variety, area of cultivation and other conditions, the percentage of essential oil is different, and the content of the main active substance of carvone varies from 38 to 60.4%.In addition, the fruit contains fatty oil, protein, tannins, etc.
Application. Cumin seeds( seeds) are used in the baking industry, in canning, pickling, salting of vegetables and in confectionery production for the preparation of various fillings, in the alcoholic beverage industry for the production of caraway vodka, etc. For medicinal purposes, caraway seeds are used for intestinal atonystrengthening the function of the digestive glands. It helps to reduce the processes of putrefaction and fermentation in the intestine. Cumin is widely known and folk medicine: with sluggish digestion and swelling of the intestines recommend a cumin broth, with teardrops in the wind prescribe cumin drops. For the aromatization of medicinal products, caraway essential oil is used. The leaves and upper parts of the stems are used as a salad or seasoning for soups, stewed lamb and other dishes.
Cumin seeds are used in the bakery, canning and confectionery industries, with canning, pickling, pickling and marinade preparation. Cumin seeds have good lactational and choleretic effects.