History of Cumin
(Cuminum Cyminum, Linn.)
Early History & Folklore.
Among the Greeks, cumin symbolised cupidity and Marcus Antoninus was so nick-named due to his averice. Folklore of the time included the joke that someone miserly must have eaten cumin.Pliny was said to have listed cumin as "the best appetizer of all condiments." He also suggested that smoking the seeds would cultivate a scholarly pallor that implied long hours of scholarly pursuits. Horace referred to the practice as exsangue cuminum or the bloodless pallor from cumin.
In the 1st Century BC, the Celts baked their fish with cumin.
Cumin was thought to "confer the gift of retention". This concept of retention extended to objects, birds and people. It was thought any object containing cumin would be protected from theft as that object would hold the power of entrapping anyone attempting to steal that item within the invaded house. Pigeons and other birds have a fondness for cumin and it was thought to prevent them from straying. To keep their young men from straying, young women would give their sweethearts bread seasoned with cumin or mix some cumin in their wine when the men prepared to leave for extended periods from home.
As with many of the herbs we researched, our sources had two different views. One reference about medicinal uses of herbs, said that in Germany cumin seeds are added to bread as a condiment.
Another source, which focuses on the folklore of plants, linked cumin to the "wood and forest folks of Germany, spirits inhabiting the forests" along with the poem,
"Peel no tree,
Relate no dream,
_Pipe_ no bread, _or_
Bake no cumin in bread,
So will God help thee in thy need."
From that same reference came the anecdote of a "forest wife" who after eating a "new baked loaf, given as an offering" was said to have screamed,
"They've baken for me cumin bread,
That on this house brings great distress."
Early Medicinal Uses of Cumin.
The ancients used cumin to treat pallor of the face. And like so many of the herbs, cumin was used to treat flatulence.A curious combination of cumin and other herbs was often used as a poltice for the treatment of stitches and other muscle pains.
In strong doses cumin essential oil was used as a light sedative for extremely nervous and excited individuals. In perhaps in a direct contradiction, small diluted doses were used to stimilate individuals impaired by disease.
A list of the reference materials and resources we have used for all of our pages can be found on our About Us page.