No ajwain?

[Wholemeal Crank]

A friend in a culinarily challenged part of the world says he has never seen ajwain in his local stores, so I was wondering if substituting one or several other more easily obtained members of the same spice family might be useful.

The recipe is for a curried sprouted bean soup (Kwati) from Nepal, if that helps, and it already calls for cumin. I was thinking increase the cumin by the same amount, but would any combo of cumin plus a bit of caraway, celery seed, or fennel come closer?

[anzu]

The best substitute would actually be dried oregano (and yes, I am being serious). Maybe add a little extra black pepper also.

And on no account substitute caraway seeds - the taste is very different indeed.

[SuzySushi]

Actually, thyme leaves are pretty close in flavor!

[Milagai]

Thanks for the tip on not using caraway, Anzu because I had

often seen caraway described as a substitute....

and I do agree that oregano smells similar to ajwain so it's

likely a good substitute....

What about mail order for the OP's friend?

Milagai

[Wholemeal Crank]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll let him know--thyme or oregano. That makes sense, since ajwain are parsely seeds.

[anzu]

No, they're not parsley seeds, though they are in the same family.

Read here for more.

[waaza]

A friend in a culinarily challenged part of the world says he has never seen ajwain in his local stores, so I was wondering if substituting one or several other more easily obtained members of the same spice family might be useful.

The recipe is for a curried sprouted bean soup (Kwati) from Nepal, if that helps, and it already calls for cumin.  I was thinking increase the cumin by the same amount, but would any combo of cumin plus a bit of caraway, celery seed, or fennel come closer?

←

a suitable sub would be thyme, as the main component in ajwain is thymol (mint is to menthol as thyme is to thymol). Although caraway is in the same family (umbelliferae) as cumin, dill, ajwain, coriander, it is not substitute for any of them. I was told it was not even grown in India, though on a recent trip to Bangalore I bought some in a supermarket, marked 'cake seed'.

Ajwain is called Bishop's weed, or carom, it is not parsley seed, although parsley is also an umbellifera, as is celery and radhuni.

Best to try and find a source, one of those indispensible spices.

cheers

Waaza

[peanutgirl]

I picked up a bag of seeds labeled ajman today. Is this just a different spelling / name for ajwain ?

I Googled and couldn't find ajman listed as an alternate. It does say "graines de thymol" on the bag though , which leads me to believe they are the same. Am I correct ?

TIA !

[waaza]

I picked up a bag of seeds labeled ajman  today. Is this just a different spelling / name for ajwain ?

I Googled and couldn't find ajman listed as an alternate. It does say "graines de thymol" on the bag though , which leads me to believe they are the same. Am I correct ?

TIA !

←

haven't come across this one.

Ajmud is often applied to celery (both ordinary and wildcelery,or radhuni). Calling it 'thyme seed' is misleading, as thyme is a different family altogether*. The ajwain seed is small, like celery seed, and tastes strongly of the thyme plant.

HTH

cheers

Waaza

* although kalonji is often called onion seed, which is also no relation. There are many more examples, let me know if you want to know them. W

[peanutgirl]

* although kalonji  is often called onion seed, which is also no relation. There are many more examples, let me know if you want to know them. W

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Yes, that would be appreciated and most helpful. Is there a thread devoted to this already ?

[peanutgirl]

Curiosity was getting the better of me today, so I went to a different store today with a slip of paper listing several ingredients I was looking for. I asked the store owner to direct me to ajwain as well as ajwan. She took me straight to the bags of ajman. When I asked about the different spelling, she assured me it was the same thing. Not sure if this helps anyone other than me !

bag of seeds

close up of "ajman" seeds.

[waaza]

* although kalonji  is often called onion seed, which is also no relation. There are many more examples, let me know if you want to know them. W

←

Yes, that would be appreciated and most helpful. Is there a thread devoted to this already ?

←

don't know, if there is, then maybe this can be added to it.

Indian equivalent (US/UK/?)

kalonji is not onion seed, or black cumin

shah jeera is black cumin (bunium persicum) but not caraway

(caraway) can only mean black cumin

tej patta is a cassia leaf, not a bay leaf

cinnamon is most often cassia, even in India

lovage is ajwain

radhuni is wild celery seed

mutton is goat meat

beef is water buffalo (except in the state of Kerala)

cream is like sour cream

kashmiri chilli are mostly byadgi chilli

I realize some of these may be contentious, but I am prepared to discuss .

cheers

Waaza

Edited September 7, 2006 by waaza (log)

[Milagai]

Peanutgirl: your pictures look identical to the ajwain

in my spice cupboard. Do yours have that distinctive

aroma when crushed?

Waaza: yr information on names pretty much lines up with what

I have ...

re cinnamon vs cassia - I don't think I've ever handled

real cinnamon sticks in my life....

Milagai

[waaza]

thanks Milagai,

.......its good to get confirmation.

I think most of the confusion arises because there just isn't an English (in its widest context) word for a species or genera that doesn't grow in Europe/US/wherever. The fact that some things have a passing resemblance to Europe/US/wherever based flora has been the reason to adopt the name, but a tej patta (leaf from the cassia tree) is not the same as a bay leaf (although of different genera they are of the same taxonomic family, I think) and to my taste buds not a good substitute for one another. Once one has tasted cassia leaves in with basmati rice, a bay leaf in the same never quite seems to fit. The cassia leaf blends perfectly (IMHO), the bay leaf fights a little.

cheers

Waaza

ps I'll send some real cinnamon to you if you like, although ironically a packet I bought recently is marked 'cassia'

The Hindi name for cinnamon is dal chini, which I believe means 'wood from China' in Arabic or Farsi (?) so it actually describes cassia, and not cinnamon, which originated in Sri Lanka, AFAIK.

[beccaboo]

re cinnamon vs cassia - I don't think I've ever handled

real cinnamon sticks in my life....

←

Real cinnamon sticks are paler and softer than cassia, and kind of flaky around the edges.

[waaza]

re cinnamon vs cassia - I don't think I've ever handled

real cinnamon sticks in my life....

←

Real cinnamon sticks are paler and softer than cassia, and kind of flaky around the edges.

←

cinnamon (real and imaginary ) on left, cassia bark on right.

© Suresh Hinduja 2005 (hope you don't mind, Suresh)

cheers

Waaza