subject: Costly Cumin [print this page] I make a delectable salad (if I do say so myself) where I combine chickpeas with grated carrot, pepper, raisins and any other veggie I can find in the fridge and then top it off with a delicious mix of olive oil, lemon, copious amounts of cumin, coriander, turmeric and ginger. Like many of the other spices and herbs, cumin has a fascinating past which we tend to forget now that it is so widely available.
The spice was excavated from a site in Syria called Tell ed-Der, which has been dated to the 2nd millennium BC, making cumin over 4000 years old. There are some mentions of cumin, or cummin as it was known then, referenced throughout the Bible in the Old and New Testaments, specifically in Matthew (23:23) and Isaiah (28:27).
In Greece, cumin was used much in the same way as pepper is today, kept in a bowl on the table for people to help themselves, as a condiment for bread and wine. Famous scholars speculated that the prized spice assisted intellectual and scholarly pursuits, while it was also known for its medicinal properties, supposedly aiding digestion.
Cumin Seeds
Cumin was extremely valuable, only available to the very wealthy and was frequently used as currency, while also symbolising desire and lust. In Egypt the spice was an important feature in the mummification process and was also used in cooking, while in Europe many tales were spun about the special spice which was commonly used in recipes until it was usurped by caraway.
If you are worried about your man staying faithful to you, then all you need to do is secretly feed him cumin seeds. Young women would sneak their beloved the seeds in bread and wine, whenever the men had to leave for long periods of time, such as leaving for war, as supposedly the spice caused fidelity and faithfulness.
This concept was expanded to include animals and birds, which were fed the seeds to keep them from straying it was found to be particularly effective with chickens and pigeons.
Often the bride and groom would carry a bag of cumin seeds during their wedding and people would frequently carry the seeds in their pockets in everyday life. As recently as 400 years ago, the spice was introduced to the New World and Americas by the Portuguese and Spanish traders. Today cumin is widely available and remains extremely popular.
Try these mouth-watering, healthy butternut and feta lunch wraps for a tasty midday snack.
Ingredients:
700 g Butternut cubed
5 ml Robertsons Coriander
5 ml Robertsons Cumin
15 ml Olive Oil
80 g Feta Cheese
60 ml Sweet Chilli Sauce
100 g Rocket Leaves or Coriander Leaves (optional)
6 Wraps
Method:
Place the butternut in an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle it with Coriander and Cumin
Drizzle with oil and bake at 180c for 25 30 minutes or until butternut is soft
Combine the feta, cooked butternut and sweet chilli sauce together
Fill the wraps with the butternut, chilli, rocket and feta filling
