Black cumin seed oil

Cultivation & yield

The main harvest time of black cumin is in September, when the plants start dying from below.

The plant is native to North Africa, especially Egypt, where it is cultivated. Other growing areas are India, Turkey, Iraq, North Africa and the Middle East.

For more than 2,000 years, black cumin has been used in the Orient as a peppery spice and medicine.

The historical roots of black cumin seed go back to statements by Mohammeds (570-632 A.D.), who is said to have said about 1,500 years ago "Black cumin heals every disease except death. But long before this statement, people believed in the special effect of black cumin. In the grave of Pharaoh Tut-ench-amun a bottle of black cumin seed oil was found as an offering for life after death. In the tenth century, the Islamic physician Ibn Sina also described the healing effect of black cumin seed in his book "The Book of Recovery of the Soul".  This book was the standard work at European universities for over half a millennium. In Egyptian folk medicine, black cumin is still recommended today as an antiflatulent and diuretic tea and its pressed oil for the treatment of the upper airways. In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, its alleged milk-increasing effect on breastfeeding mothers is particularly noted.

A subspecies of black cumin, Nigella Sativa, originates from North Africa, Southern Europe and the Near East, where its seeds were used early on as a spice and in medicine.

The genuine black cumin (Nigella sativa) was given the popular name "Katharinenblume" because of its wheel-shaped flowers. This flower is reminiscent of the torture wheel of Saint Catherine. Other common names are Kookäem, Kookämer, Black Caraway, Black Cumin.

Even today the black seeds, which are also called black onion seeds in Asia, are scattered like sesame on pita bread. In German trade it is often available under the Panjabi-name Kalonji. Black cumin seed is a component of the Bengali spice mixture Panch Phoron.