Cumin Cheese

Cumin Seed. Cumin spice is the dried ripe fmit of Cuminum cyminum L. (UmbeUiferae). The seed-Uke fmit is elongated about 0.31 to 0.63 cm and is yeUowish brown. It is native to upper Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, but is now cultivated in Pakistan, Turkey, India, China, and Syria. It has a strong pecuhar aroma and flavor, pleasing to some and offensive to others. Cumin seed is used in chutney and curry, chili powders, chili con came, cheeses, and the pickling of cabbage. 

Syria, Mexico and Chile. In most countries of Northern and Eastern Europe, cumin is of little importance as a traditional flavouring and is considered an alien spice, an oriental variety of caraway, comparable to, but distinct from, the native spice caraway ( foreign caraway ). Today, cumin usage in Europe is restricted to flavouring cheese in the Netherlands and France (Farrell, 1985), but it is experiencing a revival due to new-found appreciation of its culinary and therapeutic properties. Cumin essential oil is also used in cosmetics and toiletries to scent creams and lotions and in perfumes, with a reported maximum use of about 0.4% (Weiss, 2002). 

The oil of cumin is an essential part of kum-mel liqueur and German baked goods it is also used in perfumery. In medicine, it is used as a stimulant, an antispasmodic and a carminative. It is used mainly as a seasoning in curry powders, soups, stews, sausages, cheeses, pickles, meats and chutneys (Farrell, 1985). 

The flavour of cumin also plays a major role in Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. It can be found in some Dutch cheeses, like Leyden cheese, and in some traditional bread from France. Cumin is also very popular in Western to Central Asia. In South-eastern and Eastern Asia, cumin is less valued, but used occasionally. Cumin is very important in Burmese cooking and it plays a role in the cooking styles of Thailand and Indonesia. In China proper, cumin is a rare spice used only for a small number of recipes. The patterning theory of spice use reveals that cumin is most suitable for Eastern cooking (e.g. Indian and South-east Asian) and does not show suitability for any Western cooking (except American) (Hirasa and Takemasa, 1998). 

Another investigation of PDO-registered food involved a study of cumin cheese from the Netherlands [94], The headspace VOCs from 30 cumin samples of artisan cheese... 

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