Caraway
A biennial herbaceous plant with a spindle-shaped fleshy root, it has antispasmodic, expectorant and many other useful medicinal properties.
Cumin fruits and preparations made from it are used for atony and pain in the intestines, flatulence, to enhance the secretory and motor activity of the stomach, to reduce rotting and fermentation in the intestines, to increase bile secretion, as well as for inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system.
Cumin belongs to the Apiaceae family.
Cumin is a biennial herbaceous plant 30-80 cm high with a characteristic odor.
The root is thick, fleshy, spindle-shaped, white. The stem is hollow, branched, erect. The leaves are alternate, oblong, double or triple pinnately dissected. The flowers are small, with a white or pink corolla, collected in an inflorescence - a complex umbrella with a diameter of 4-8 cm. The fruit is an oblong, slightly flattened visloplodik, 3-5 mm long, when ripe, splits into two mericarps (semi-carp), with a strong aroma and a peculiar spicy taste. Blooms in May–July, bears fruit in July–August.
Distributed in the south and southeast of the European part of Russia, in Western and Eastern Siberia, the Caucasus, Crimea, and less often in the Far East. It grows wild everywhere in forest and forest-steppe zones, along river valleys, near roads, on hills, in weedy places. Cultivated in many countries and in the south of Russia.
Cumin seeds contain essential oil (up to 8.2%), the main components of which are d-carvone, d-limonene, carvacrol, dihydrocarvone, dihydrocarveol. In addition, the fruits are rich in fatty oil (up to 20%), it contains: fatty acids (butyric, linoleic, palmitic, stearic, linolenic), phytosterols (sitosterol), triterpenoids, flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol), tannins and proteins , phenolcarboxylic acids, coumarins, waxes, resins and mineral salts (accumulate selenium).
Cumin preparations have antiseptic, analgesic, choleretic, sedative properties, stimulate the secretion of digestive glands, promote the release of sputum secretions from the bronchi in case of respiratory tract disease, have an antispasmodic effect, relax the smooth muscles of internal organs, increase milk production in nursing women and promote urination during edema.
In official medicine, the following drugs are used: caraway water, caraway oil and caraway essential oil.
Cumin is included in sedative, stomachic, laxative, carminative and appetizing preparations.
Cumin essential oil is used to flavor medicines.
Use in folk medicine
Cumin is one of the oldest spicy and medicinal plants, known for a very long time. The scientific generic name comes from the Greek. kara – head, characterizes the shape of a complex umbrella. The specific name comes from the Latinized Arabic name for the plant, karwaja (cumin).
Due to its numerous beneficial properties, cumin fruits are widely used in folk medicine. Used internally in the form of infusion, decoction or tea for chronic gastritis, intestinal inflammation, dyspepsia in children, atonic constipation, flatulence, spastic pain in the stomach and intestines, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, to stimulate appetite, as an expectorant for acute and chronic bronchitis, pneumonia , tuberculosis and bronchial asthma. An oil infusion of cumin fruits is used for rubbing against colds and to destroy skin parasites.