The Caraways: Caraway, Black Caraway, and Tuberous Caraway

Three caraways are used as spice, which are popular in European and Asian cuisines. They are the true caraway (Carumm carvi), the black caraway (Elwendia persica syn. Bunium persicum), and the tuberous caraway (Bunium bulbocastanum). All the three seeds are traded in India as “Krishna jeera,” “kala zira,” “shahi jeera,” and Kashmiri cumin, and these vernacular names are used indiscriminately; moreover, it is difficult to find pure seeds of the three spices in the market. The source plants of these products are as follows: Carumm carvi is the true caraway, Bunium persicum (currently renamed as Elwendia persica) is the black caraway, and Bunium bulbocastanum is the source of tuberous caraway; both are called black cumin and black caraway in common parlance (and known as “Krishna jeera” in Sanskrit). In the trader’s market, all the three are traded as “kala zira/jeera,” “shia zira/jeera,” shahi jeera, royal Kashmiri cumin, etc. The other black seeded spice, Nigella sativa, is more famous all over the world market as black seed (or Roman coriander) and as “kalonji” in India. In this chapter the three caraways are discussed in detail. Their taxonomy (synonyms, nomenclature), botany (species description), chemistry (chemical constituents), production, functional aspects (major pharmacological properties), and medicinal and culinary uses are elaborated; mention is also made on the safety aspect of caraways. The discussions on these crops are mainly based on the author’s Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices 2 vol set, CABI, 2017 (Ravindran 2017).