Topic: Black cumin seeds!

[Peripatetic Phil]

Are you frying them before boiling, or just boiling?

Frying, Haldi : all of my pulao masala is fried in ghee for five minutes before the washed, drained and part-dried rice is added and then fried for a further two minutes, after which boiling water, salt and freeze-dried garlic flakes are added and the whole cooked for 12 minutes plus resting time.

** Phil.

[livo]

I know this is an old thread but since I'm writing directly as to this spice I won't start a new one.

After some difficulty in finding these seeds, I did manage to do so today. I have a recipe here that I've been wanting to try which calls for them .  I refer back to the OP here where the poster refers to them as disgusting and something immediately came to my mind.  I'm quite surprised it hasn't been suggested earlier as the problem here is well known and common.

Often Black Cumin seed (Shahi Jeera) is wrongly labelled. Actually it's visa versa. Some (ie most)advertised and packaged products are actually either Black Seed, Onion Seed, Kalonji or Nigella, which is mistakenly / incorrectly labelled and sold as Black Cumin.

If your Black Cumin does not look the same shape as normal cumin seed only smaller and darker, then you probably don't have Black Cumin.  Clearly these incorrectly labelled seeds will not be interchangeable as a substitute for the real Shahi Jeera.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Often Black Cumin seed (Shahi Jeera) is wrongly labelled. Actually it's visa versa. Some (ie most)advertised and packaged products are actually either Black Seed, Onion Seed, Kalonji or Nigella, which is mistakenly / incorrectly labelled and sold as Black Cumin.

Where do you live, Livo ?  I have never encountered any instances in the UK of any of the seeds you list being mis-labelled as Black Cumin / Kala Jeera.

I /love/ the flavour of Kala Jeera, yet a single raw (white) cumin seed can destroy (for me) all the pleasure in a thousand sugar-coated fennel seeds.

** Phil.

[livo]

Australia, but a Google will show you what I'm talking about. The fountain of knowledge, wikipedia describes black seed and the correct one as both being `black cumin.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Well, I still see no mention of "black seed" [1, 2] but I agree that the English Wikipedia does indeed mis-identify Kalonji as also being classifiable as "black cumin".  Completely incorrectly, of course, but it does not directly support your hypothesis that Kalonji is /sold/ as "black cumin", although it is frequently (and equally wrongly) sold as "onion seed".

** Phil.
--------
[1] Black cumin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bunium bulbocastanum
Nigella sativa

Black cumin can refer to the seeds of either of two quite different plants, both of which are used as spices:

    Bunium bulbocastanum, similar to caraway in shape
    Nigella sativa, also called kalonji or nigella, and more common in the West

[2]Bunium persicum is a plant species in the family Apiaceae formerly included in genus Carum. It is related to cumin (Cuminum cyminum).

The closely related species Bunium bulbocastanum, which is used as a spice and as a vegetable, and commonly called great pignut,[3] black zira,[3] or earthnut,[3] was formerly considered to be a synonym of B. persicum.[4]

[Stu-pot]

Often Black Cumin seed (Shahi Jeera) is wrongly labelled. Actually it's visa versa. Some (ie most)advertised and packaged products are actually either Black Seed, Onion Seed, Kalonji or Nigella, which is mistakenly / incorrectly labelled and sold as Black Cumin.

If your Black Cumin does not look the same shape as normal cumin seed only smaller and darker, then you probably don't have Black Cumin.

I must agree with this post.  5 years ago I went thru a similar experience.  I was offered many seeds as 'Black Cumin' but I knew they weren't  cos my step father-in-law is Bengali (taught reasonably well by his Grandmother) and he is very proud of his cooking!   Not a Chef I must add, just a bizman that's been here since the sixties, but means I've used this to my advantage and been around India a bit and know my Spices! 
Black Cumin can be purchased in Tooting but when trying it in recipes (in quantities) & as whole spice it certainly is: strong, smokey, over powering & def. discusting etc... Just like many others ie. Black cardamon (again in detectable quantities). So Meggeth...  I completely agree with you on aroma & flavour, but I think we are in the minority.  Some of us are over sensitive & very particular - nothing wrong with that I think, but makes the whole journey of producing 'Perfect Curry' a little more gruelling.  I believe people that have disagreed with the masses, developed their own recipes, have pushed BIR forward to what we have today and the future.   

But Heyho, what do I know... I seem to detest 60%+  of Indian spices BUT LOVE BIR !

bedtime Zebadi...

[George]

Often Black Cumin seed (Shahi Jeera) is wrongly labelled.

Many thanks for the warning. I had no idea that I may have been duped and mislead, when I bought and used so-called black cumin seeds, without really thinking about what they are supposed to be.

[livo]

Phil, you may well be correct. I know that wiki refers to both Bunium bulbocastanum and Nigella sativa as Black Cumin as you have pointed out. I also know that Black Seed, Onion Seed and Kalonji are often (correctly or not?) used to refer to the same thing or at least mixed up. This apparent confusion is the purpose of my post, ie; to point out that there is the possibility that the OP could have been given the wrong spice, and hence the undesirable outcome.

I have also had somebody in an Indian / Asian grocery store tell me that Caraway was the same as Black Cumin.

Gernot Katzer has this to say,
http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Buni_per.html

[Peripatetic Phil]

Rather appositely, I am currently in the process of replacing my spices with new stocks (which, for the first time, I am going to date-label !) and in looking at my still-sealed backup packs I notice that I have two very different seeds (different both in colour and in size) labelled as Kala Jeera / Shahi Jeera / Black Cumin.  I will pop samples of each under the microscope when I open them, and try to see if they are likely to be related, but until I have opened both packs I will not be able to compare them for flavour.  I will try to photograph them later.  I do have (rather too much) Kaloonji, so it will be easy to compare both with it.

** Phil.

[livo]

I had photographed this packet last week but till this morning, hadn't had the time to resize and post. You will see that these seeds are similar in shape / appearence to regular Cumin. They are also slightly smaller and not too much darker but noticeably so.  The other spice sold as Black Cumin is actually very black and the seeds are shaped more like Onion Seed / Kalonji etc.