November 10, 2021 • 31 mins
This warm, earthy spice has made its place in comforting cuisine around the world. Anney and Lauren explore the science and history of cumin.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Sabor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today
we have an episode for you about Human. Yes, and
I love Cuban. Yeah, me too. Yeah. I I feel
like it's probably been around most of my life, but
I when I was in college, I started cooking with it,
(00:30):
and then that definitely expanded when I got out of college.
And now it's just something like, what is this missing?
Maybe human, especially especially soups, Like I feel like soups
all the time. I'm like, maybe I had Cuban actually
or something. Yeah. Human and and Coriander. I think are
(00:52):
might two real, real go twos where I'm like, what
does this need? Let's just dump some of that in
there and see what happens. Um. But but for sure,
pound for pound, not that I'm putting in actual pounds,
that would be quite a lot. I used the most
in chili. Um. I just made my first batch of
chili of the fall about a week ago. It's so good.
I'm so happy with myself. Um Oh, I am happy
(01:16):
for you too. I'm sad for me because I don't
have any right now, very happy for you. It's just
so satisfying as the weather gets cooler, you know, yeah,
oh yeah, And there was there was this used bookstore
in my college town that also had like a little
cafe and they would make soups, and human was also
(01:38):
one of their favorite soup ingredients. And so I really
associate the scent of like maybe like a like a squash,
like a cumani squash soup um with with this with
this lovely used bookstore. And you would get all the
paper and the and the paperboard and all of those
like good like kind of gluoy book smells, and and
(02:00):
then the soup on top of that, and oh it
was a beautiful place to be. That does sound lovely.
That sounds so nice. Um for this one. You can
see our past Spice episodes. We've done quite a few
of them now, yeah, yeah we have. I you know,
I sort of when I'm kind of parsing out topics,
(02:22):
I try to, you know, put in different different categories
of topics from from week to week, so that you know,
you're not kind of lumping all the same thing all
in once. Um. And I was like, oh, we could
do another Spice. And then I was like, are we
running out of spices? No? I mean, we've definitely known
a lot of them, but I think we've got quite
(02:43):
a few more to go. And they always have such
interesting stories because they get added to all kinds of things.
Oh absolutely, yeah yeah, well okay, so does this bring
us to our question? It does? Human? What is it? Well?
(03:03):
Human is a spice that can be used whole in
seed form or ground up into a powder. And uh,
it's got this sort of spicy, heavy, earthy, savory, bitter
warm flavor to it, like uh, like like when you
when you come into a warm kitchen on on a
(03:26):
cold evening and someone has been cooking something. Yeah, yeah, um.
And what we call human seeds are actually the small
dry fruits of the human herb botanical name Cumanum simon
um cymon um. Sure one of those maybe, but yeah,
(03:49):
it's it's a small tender herb in the apiosce or
carrot family. They grow to about three feet like a
meter high. It's got these feathery little leaves like its
cousin fennel, And we'll bloom with these pretty little clusters
of white or pink or red flowers that if pollinated,
we'll develop these we little dry fruits. Um. They sort
(04:09):
of look like like skinny grains of rice um and
narrow and oblong, with with ridges going the long way
across them. Uh, sort of green to gray brown in color,
usually a little less than a quarter of an inch
maybe like five millimeters in length. UM, sometimes slightly curved. Uh.
They also resemble another cousin, caraway seeds. And boy howdy,
(04:34):
there's some linguistic confusion out there about that because a
few European languages called caraway some variation onwards that sound
similar like kumin mhm, but they are fairly different spices
like like related, yes, but totally different. Yeah. Yeah, So
(04:58):
if you're looking for the stuff in like eyebread or
that's like served with monster cheese, or that's flavoring aquavite,
you're looking for care away um. Also in furthermore, black human,
wild human, and sweet human, all three are whole separate
species entirely great So, so that was confusing in the reading.
(05:26):
But anyway, the regular old human that is not care
away or those other things, which is what we were
talking about today. Um is grown in warm areas, uh,
for example northwest India. In places like that, it's an
annual crop. It's often grown during the mild winters and
harvested during the dry spring months. UM. And yes, the
(05:49):
seeds can be used whole or ground. UM. The primary
flavor molecule in them is named for them. It's a
human nalde hyde. Uh. And you can really bring out
the fiver by lightly toasting the seeds before you use them.
It also makes your kitchen smell really good. And human
is used in just all kinds of things around the
(06:11):
world all day and kinds. UM. It's an integral ingredient
and lots of curries or massala's. It's in taco and
chili seasoning. Here in the States, it's in soups and
stews and schwarma and falafel. You can put it on
as a as a rub on like meat or vegetables
before you roast them. You can put it in savory breads.
I have also seen dessert recipes that include um warm spices,
(06:34):
including a little bit of human as well. I have
quite the range of cravings right now, a whole gamut
of things. Yeah, I was, I was. I was looking
at this recipe for like for like roasted apples or
pears that includes just a tiny bit, just a tiny
bit of human and with like some like cinnamon and
(06:56):
cloves or something like that. And I am so interested
in this right out now. I'm like, what if you
made some caramel sauce and you put a little bit
of human in it? Goodness, Lauren? Sorry sorry, stop, sorry
too much? Well what about the nutrition? Ye, you're generally
(07:22):
not eating enough to like really make an impact. But
as with many foods that we use as spices, human
packs a lot of flavor for a low caloric punch,
which can be great if that's the thing that you're
going for. Um, it's also got a smattering of vitamins
and minerals, a little bit of protein and fat and
fiber in there. Various studies have also been looking into
(07:42):
the potential medicinal properties of human including controlling insulin and
cholesterol levels, and as an anti inflammatory and anti microbial UM.
This does match up with some humans longstanding uses for
various ailments UM, mostly like gastro intestinal stuff, so that's
in true sting um. But beyond beyond those uses In particular,
(08:04):
a lot of the more rigorous studies to date have
been in in rats rather than in humans, so you know,
savor motto. As always, human bodies are complicated. More research
is necessary before ingesting a medicinal quantity of anything. You
should probably consult a medical professional, which we are not
(08:26):
very much not nope, m hmm are no. We do
have some numbers for you, we do so. Some sources
claim that behind black pepper, human is one of the
most popular spices in the world, and some even put
it at the second most popular spice in the world.
(08:49):
Although I feel like we've said that about other spices,
so I like according to what and like they never
the kind of article that says that never really lists
a source for that information. So I'm already sort of like, well, alright, cool,
you like human, that's great, happy for it's popular. Yeah,
I'll give you it's popular. Sure, yeah. Um. India exports
(09:14):
the most by far, nearly two hundred million kilos a year.
As of UM something like three quarters of the world's
production of human comes from India. Turkey is also up
and coming um as some ten million kilos that year,
and Syria and the UAE have also been major producers.
(09:35):
I've seen varying numbers about who imports the most, but
it seems like the US, the UK, Vietnam, in Bangladesh,
are all key importers. So mm hmmm. Well, according to
an MPR article from twenty fift human is in nine
(09:57):
of the twenty three items Ento Boltles menu, and it
makes sense that's changed. I imagine it's still highly involved. Yeah,
it makes sense. Yeah, mm hmmm. Um. In the words
of researcher and author of the book Human, Camels and Caravans,
Gary Napin quote, once it has been introduced into a
(10:21):
new land and culture, human as a way of insinuating
itself deeply into the local cuisine, which is why it
has become one of the most commonly used spices in
the world. Yeah. I love that that that human made
it into the title of that book, because it could
have been you know, any I guess any other spice
with that with that good alliteration, that good alliterative c
(10:43):
in the beginning. But but human, he chose human, Yes,
And the history of why he chose human is extremely fascinating.
It is, and we are going to get into that
history after we get back from a quick break forward
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
(11:12):
thank you. So human has been around so long and
been in use so long that pinning down when and
where it originated has been a great headache for historians.
Yeah yeah, um and because of that, some think that
(11:33):
this is one of the most perfect examples of trade,
cultural adaption, and culinary globalization that it earns the name
in the title of a book about that subject. The
general consensus is that it originated somewhere in Asia and
or the Mediterranean, but places all over have been suggested
(11:54):
as this this place of origin. Historians also believe that
because of this smell, especially when roasted, and how well
human compliments so many ingredients and flavors the world over,
it was domesticated and adopted into cuisines fairly quickly, or
at least the decision to cultivate and domesticate it was
made fairly quickly when it was introduced. UM. Experts claim
(12:19):
that folks were harvesting and using human and what is
now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and surrounding areas during Biblical times. Yeah,
and it's mentioned a couple of times at least in
the Bible UM in both the New and Old Testaments,
UM as a precious crop and also as potential currency
for tithing. Yes, and more on that later. UM and
(12:40):
going back to that NPR article, humanists thought in some
circles to be the only English word that we can
directly trace back to Smrian, the oldest known written language.
And if that's the case, people were writing about human
as far back as four thousand years ago, which I
think it's just really cool. It's true. Yeah, Cuman shows
(13:03):
up in the oldest known recipe collection as well, the
Yelled culinary tablets from s written in what is now
a Ran. The inclusion of human in these tablets suggest
that Mesopotamians really liked spice in their food. Records indicate
that human was already fairly established in the Tigris Euphrates
(13:24):
region by the time ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamian civilizations arose again.
It was likely used both culinarily and medicinally, perhaps particularly
for digestive ailments including parasites and gastro intestinal disease, as
well as breath fresheners. I love how often breath freshers
comes out all right, Yeah, they didn't really have too
(13:47):
many options back then. Human may have also been involved
in the embalming mummification process in Egypt, and sometimes it
might have been a part of ceremonial offerings in Egypt
in the ninth century BC, and Assyrian king decided to
throw a celebratory feast at the end of the construction
of his new capital and what is now iran Um.
(14:10):
And later when he was regaling others about the amount
of food served at this feast, he mentioned town what
cuman was involved, perhaps specifically as a table condiment. And yeah,
the timeline of when human arrived and where is a
bit murky. Historians theorized Arab traders first transported human to India,
(14:35):
and the Phoenicians transported it up to North Africa and
the Iberian Peninsula, and various traders and groups introduced it
to other parts of Africa. The ancient Greeks used it
as a table spice, and they also believed it to
be an aphrodez actuh huh. I cannot speak to the
(14:59):
aphrodisi act part, but but the ancient Greeks did have
like a like a separate uh condiment container that would
have been placed out on the table just for human Yeah. Yeah,
and in ancient room as well, ancient room is uh.
They made a lot of use of human in their cooking.
It was commonplace enough that it was a part of
(15:20):
a joke about how common it was. In a first
century Roman novel, yep Um, a collection of Greek medical
text from around the fifth or fourth century BC, recommended
human as an ingredient that could prevent a woman's uterus
from moving around your stomach and causing quote hysteria. Uh yeah, yeah,
(15:44):
if y'all didn't know. Um, the root of the word
hysterical comes from this belief that that the uterus would
just migrate around in a woman's body wreaking all kinds
of havoc um. So that's not that's not what it does.
That's still still not a medical expert, but I could
(16:05):
tell you with absolute certainty that is not how it do.
This is one thing Saver can really confirmed. Yep. According
to the Epiceus, uh, the Egyptians used human to season
cooked fish and marrows. Um. The Epicius also listed human
(16:27):
as an essential ingredient every home cook should have, Like
if you're stuck in your your pantry, human needs to
be involved. Um or how plenty road of human. Yet
of all the seasonings which gratify a fastidious taste, human
is the most agreeable. Okay, all right, yeah, um. He
(16:48):
also wrote that it was frequently used to treat stomach ailments,
and that if a woman smelled it during sex, she
was more likely to conceive mm hmm. Indeed, in in
medieval England, human seeds were prized enough that they were
used as a form of currency to pay rent. Some
(17:09):
landlords accepted a pound of pepper and a pound of
cuman for the entire year. It was even accepted as
ties in some instances at this time. Historians believe this
suggests that that that this was a quote warm period
in England um warm enough to grow human in England. However,
(17:31):
humans saw so much use in England and medicines and
food that even if they were growing it there, it
wasn't enough that they didn't have to import some as well.
King Henry the Third's estate would buy human twenty pounds
at a time or about nine kilos at a time.
All right, m m m. According to Gerard's herbal which
(17:52):
was published at the end of the hundreds, human seed
quote scatter us and breaketh all the windiness of the
stomach ellie guts and matrix. Scatter it and breaketh all
the windy nous. Uh Wow, See that's wonderfully. That is
(18:13):
so much more poetic than being like, oh man, it
helps you get rid of gas. Uh, I do enjoy it,
scattering and break it. Mm hmmm uh. Spanish settlers planted
cuman in the Americas in the fifteen hundreds and sixteen hundreds.
It was being grown in modern day New Mexico by
(18:34):
sixteen hundred, and it really cemented itself as an ingredient
in the region's cuisine not that much time at all.
Um Anglo Americans at large got their first taste of
the mix of cuman and Chile's um as they moved
out west in the nineteenth century, and then the people
who are moving out west started in turn adding cuman
(18:56):
into their own cuisines. Lady Bird Johnson, the first lady
from Texas, shared her recipe for pedronales river chile Um.
One teaspoon of cuman seed um and this was written
in Spanish was on the ingredients list, and this is
often pointed out as an indicator that human was really
(19:20):
entering the US mainstream at large. Sure sure m hm.
And public awareness of human in the US grew in
the nineteen sixties when restaurants like Taco Bell were growing
in popularity, and then again when South Asian immigrants arrived
and brought their culinary traditions with them, and a lot
of them involving human so good, so good and so
(19:43):
many things. Yes, yeah, and I and I do I
do love that. I do love that quote, um, that
you gave us right before the beginning of the history
section of right, just just the way that it really
works itself into kind of like the base of so
many cuisines that it's touched. Yeah, yeah, me too, because
(20:05):
I was just thinking of like often I try to
think of all the dishes I've used it in, and
it's just such a variety and just my own bubble
of experience. And then things like yeah, you can get
Indian food and Mexican food and just food from all over,
and Cuman is involved and like significantly involved. Yeah yeah,
(20:27):
and um and and right eating you you wind up
with these very different flavor profiles from all of the
other ingredients that are involved. But but right, just that
that that kind of like that kind of like sort
of like baseline earthy, spicy, warm, note and so nice,
so nice. Yes, you know what, I actually just made
(20:51):
a fajita chicken soup. Oh, oh, it's good, but it
has human in it. But you know what I added,
I have like a a lot of fresher reguano. I
think it's a reguno. I'm pretty sure it's a reagono
that's growing in a pot that I have, and I
was like, what can I use this in? I'll just
(21:12):
put it in here. It was actually a really nice touch. Yeah,
the ir reguno, it just added a lot. But like
the cuban and reguno coming together. Oh yeah, I oh goodness, No,
that might be one of the other humans. I was
about to say that the time all um or time
(21:32):
timey all might be one of the other uh compounds
that shows up in human. But but now that I'm
thinking about it, I think that was one of the
things I read about Black Human while I was still
trying to sess out the difference between the two. Mm hmm. Well,
that's what we have to say about human from now
it is. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
(21:53):
and we are going to get into that after we
get back from one more quick break for a word
from our sponsor. And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you, and we're back with listen. I think some
(22:19):
Cuman in joining the lovely results. Yeah, I don't know
if we I don't know if we matched sound on
that one, but I definitely got the vibe. Yes, the
vibe is what matters. Sheldon wrote, you did something on labeling,
(22:41):
but it continues to fascinate me, and I'm just sending
you this food for thought, for thoughts about food. I'm
looking at a can of coconut milk. There is printed
information right on the can, but a paper secret covered
that with other information. I peeled it off to compare
the two. Um guessing that what is printed on the
(23:01):
can is aimed at Europe because it gives the information
in English, French, and German. The paper label had English
and French, which I'm guessing is here for Canada. It's
the differences that I find interesting. European serving size is
one hundred million leaders, which makes sense since the math
(23:21):
is easy to compare with other things. The Canadian serving
size is eighty three milli leaders, so that makes it
difficult to compare with other things. Oh, eight three milli
eaters is one third cup. Doing the math numbers agree,
but the European version doesn't have cholesterol, potassium, calcium, and
iron but there are other differences. After opening. In Europe,
(23:48):
you can keep it for two days in the refrigerator,
but for Canada you can keep it for three days
in the fridge. M M. The ingredients and Europe it
says that it six coconut extract and water, and Canada
it's ninety nine point nine five coconut milk and polyscorbate
sixty again M. When the border opens, I'm going to
(24:14):
go down to the States and get a can to
see how it's labeled there. Ah, But anything, it's still different.
If nothing else, it shows how labeling is politically influenced. Yeah, yeah,
or or even if not like like politically necessarily then
certainly based upon the research and the legal system in
(24:38):
whatever country it's coming from. Yeah. First of all, I
love this. I love that you're really looking into these.
But yeah, I mean, certainly when we talk in a
lot of these episodes, you know you've got the European
Union passing laws versus with the United States is passing
whiles around um and yeah, the measurements that are accepted,
(25:02):
and it does make it quite confusing sometimes when I've
certainly been in the grocery store several times where I'm
like calculating based on what the label is and based
on what I know and what I don't know what.
I gotta bring up my phone some calculations. But I
would be really interested once you get to the U S.
Which the border has opened, uh, if you're vaccinated, just
(25:26):
as of recently, so all right, you know, yeah, I
would love to hear what the comparison is. Yeah, oh
I I do, yeah, I do always love that and
um in international supermarkets here in the States, finding different
forms of labeling and trying to sus out like a
lot of the time they have an English one printed
(25:48):
on there, um, but sometimes it's only in the native language,
and I'm kind of like, okay, what could this possibly mean? Yes, yes,
we've gotten some guests from listeners that have been fun.
If that as well, where it will be like kick
kat that's only got you know, Japanese writing on or
something like that. We're just staring at it, like, so
(26:11):
what do you think? What do you think this means?
What is this picture of? And sometimes you eat it
and it doesn't necessarily have a flavor profile that you're
super familiar with, and then I don't know if you're
me like you get out, you're like, weird Japanese dictionaries
and try to cross reference, but like it's been a
really long time since you've taken Japanese. And then like
(26:32):
two weeks later you're like, oh, it's chestnut flavored and
that's and that's it. Like that's kind of just a
cure occurs to you, Like oh yeah, yeah, it's a
little bit antiquinactic, but it was still delicious, so that's fine.
Oh yes, yes, Tracy wrote, I'm listening to your liquid
(26:56):
Smoke episode as I type, and a few things have
note popped in to my mind. Fruit flies. I have
a good friend who always had fruit flies in his
college apartment. A one night, they had a party and
there were some mostly empty beer bottles left out. In
the morning, they found the bottles filled with the flies
who had gone in for the beer and never made
it out of the bottle. Ever since, he has recommended
(27:17):
taking an empty bottle with a neck, such as a
wine bottle, and putting something attractive to the flies in
the bottom, like beer or sugar water. The flies are
attracted to the liquid but have a hard time getting
back out. I did this on my patio last summer.
And it worked well to keep the flies at bay.
Perhaps worth a shot, mc ribbs please do a micrib episode.
I'm particularly interested in the economics of it. I've long
(27:38):
had a theory that the mcribbs limited availability was tied
to pork surpluses, meaning the market price would drop and
make it cheap for McDonald's to get and sell. Or
maybe it was a limited supply thing since meat prices
are so high due to the pandemic and the mcribb
is back. I think my theory is wrong, and I
would love to know more. Mm hm, yes, yeah, I
(28:02):
know there's been some recent articles about maybe not this
aspect of the McRib but how it does impact the
like really impacts the pork market. Yeah, yeah, sure, Well,
I mean the same way that um, the chicken nuggets
had such a huge impact on the chicken market in
the United States. So yeah, I would I would love
(28:22):
to learn more, definitely, because it's one of those things
where I just hear people talking about it and getting
so excited about it, and like it's in the news.
I'm just kind of like, what, Yeah, I'd like to
learn more. But yeah, I don't think i've ever had one.
I know, you haven't eaten at McDonald's and like over
(28:43):
twenty years, right, yeah, since I was four years old? Yeah,
well yes, would would your curiosity stop? I mean like, like,
would you like like if if we went to a
McDonald's together and like I got a McRib Yeah, would
(29:05):
you try it? Mm hmmm, probably no, But I can't
say one now. So the closest I got to ever
breaking this was when I was in China and everyone
loved the mcflurry. Nobody loved the mc flurry, And one night,
like it was easier to order things for me in
(29:29):
americanized restaurants. That doesn't mean I'm ate mostly in americanized restaurants,
but sometimes when you like tired and it was like
four am, you were looking for the easy thing to
now I totally see you. Yeah, yeah, And that there
was one night I got all the way up to
the front of McDonald's I wanted that mcflurry. I looked
(29:53):
the person in the eye and I turned away. Uh
oh wow, dude. Yeah, so I can't say one. I wouldn't,
but it probably I wouldn't. I would love to hear
about it, though, and I would love to research it.
All right. Well, well, I don't want to like like
(30:16):
like present you with a taxing moral quandary or anything
like that. You know, I no pressure, no macrib pressure.
Oh but I do. I want to learn about it
more honestly, Like I said, I do get a real
fascination with these chain restaurants and what takes off and
where it takes off and why it takes off where
(30:36):
it takes off. Yeah, yeah, sure sure, And I I
always wonder with what very specific stuff like that, like
like maybe I don't know, yeah, maybe we could do
an episode about like like two or three of these
kind of like special addition dishes going out. Yeah, yeah,
I would love to do that, honestly. Um, something I'm
(30:58):
kind of fascinated. Then that's the truth. Um. Also, thank
you for the fruit fly note. They are so cost
but I'm good try I'll try this, and I really
appreciate the note. Um, And and thanks to both of
you for writing in. We always love hearing from you.
(31:22):
If you would like to email as you can. Our
email is hello at savor pod dot com. But we're
also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod. And we do hope to
hear from you savor Is production of iHeart Radio. For
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(31:46):
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Sabor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren vocal Baum, and today
we have an episode for you about Human. Yes, and
I love Cuban. Yeah, me too. Yeah. I I feel
like it's probably been around most of my life, but
I when I was in college, I started cooking with it,
(00:30):
and then that definitely expanded when I got out of college.
And now it's just something like, what is this missing?
Maybe human, especially especially soups, Like I feel like soups
all the time. I'm like, maybe I had Cuban actually
or something. Yeah. Human and and Coriander. I think are
(00:52):
might two real, real go twos where I'm like, what
does this need? Let's just dump some of that in
there and see what happens. Um. But but for sure,
pound for pound, not that I'm putting in actual pounds,
that would be quite a lot. I used the most
in chili. Um. I just made my first batch of
chili of the fall about a week ago. It's so good.
I'm so happy with myself. Um Oh, I am happy
(01:16):
for you too. I'm sad for me because I don't
have any right now, very happy for you. It's just
so satisfying as the weather gets cooler, you know, yeah,
oh yeah, And there was there was this used bookstore
in my college town that also had like a little
cafe and they would make soups, and human was also
(01:38):
one of their favorite soup ingredients. And so I really
associate the scent of like maybe like a like a squash,
like a cumani squash soup um with with this with
this lovely used bookstore. And you would get all the
paper and the and the paperboard and all of those
like good like kind of gluoy book smells, and and
(02:00):
then the soup on top of that, and oh it
was a beautiful place to be. That does sound lovely.
That sounds so nice. Um for this one. You can
see our past Spice episodes. We've done quite a few
of them now, yeah, yeah we have. I you know,
I sort of when I'm kind of parsing out topics,
(02:22):
I try to, you know, put in different different categories
of topics from from week to week, so that you know,
you're not kind of lumping all the same thing all
in once. Um. And I was like, oh, we could
do another Spice. And then I was like, are we
running out of spices? No? I mean, we've definitely known
a lot of them, but I think we've got quite
(02:43):
a few more to go. And they always have such
interesting stories because they get added to all kinds of things.
Oh absolutely, yeah yeah, well okay, so does this bring
us to our question? It does? Human? What is it? Well?
(03:03):
Human is a spice that can be used whole in
seed form or ground up into a powder. And uh,
it's got this sort of spicy, heavy, earthy, savory, bitter
warm flavor to it, like uh, like like when you
when you come into a warm kitchen on on a
(03:26):
cold evening and someone has been cooking something. Yeah, yeah, um.
And what we call human seeds are actually the small
dry fruits of the human herb botanical name Cumanum simon
um cymon um. Sure one of those maybe, but yeah,
(03:49):
it's it's a small tender herb in the apiosce or
carrot family. They grow to about three feet like a
meter high. It's got these feathery little leaves like its
cousin fennel, And we'll bloom with these pretty little clusters
of white or pink or red flowers that if pollinated,
we'll develop these we little dry fruits. Um. They sort
(04:09):
of look like like skinny grains of rice um and
narrow and oblong, with with ridges going the long way
across them. Uh, sort of green to gray brown in color,
usually a little less than a quarter of an inch
maybe like five millimeters in length. UM, sometimes slightly curved. Uh.
They also resemble another cousin, caraway seeds. And boy howdy,
(04:34):
there's some linguistic confusion out there about that because a
few European languages called caraway some variation onwards that sound
similar like kumin mhm, but they are fairly different spices
like like related, yes, but totally different. Yeah. Yeah, So
(04:58):
if you're looking for the stuff in like eyebread or
that's like served with monster cheese, or that's flavoring aquavite,
you're looking for care away um. Also in furthermore, black human,
wild human, and sweet human, all three are whole separate
species entirely great So, so that was confusing in the reading.
(05:26):
But anyway, the regular old human that is not care
away or those other things, which is what we were
talking about today. Um is grown in warm areas, uh,
for example northwest India. In places like that, it's an
annual crop. It's often grown during the mild winters and
harvested during the dry spring months. UM. And yes, the
(05:49):
seeds can be used whole or ground. UM. The primary
flavor molecule in them is named for them. It's a
human nalde hyde. Uh. And you can really bring out
the fiver by lightly toasting the seeds before you use them.
It also makes your kitchen smell really good. And human
is used in just all kinds of things around the
(06:11):
world all day and kinds. UM. It's an integral ingredient
and lots of curries or massala's. It's in taco and
chili seasoning. Here in the States, it's in soups and
stews and schwarma and falafel. You can put it on
as a as a rub on like meat or vegetables
before you roast them. You can put it in savory breads.
I have also seen dessert recipes that include um warm spices,
(06:34):
including a little bit of human as well. I have
quite the range of cravings right now, a whole gamut
of things. Yeah, I was, I was. I was looking
at this recipe for like for like roasted apples or
pears that includes just a tiny bit, just a tiny
bit of human and with like some like cinnamon and
(06:56):
cloves or something like that. And I am so interested
in this right out now. I'm like, what if you
made some caramel sauce and you put a little bit
of human in it? Goodness, Lauren? Sorry sorry, stop, sorry
too much? Well what about the nutrition? Ye, you're generally
(07:22):
not eating enough to like really make an impact. But
as with many foods that we use as spices, human
packs a lot of flavor for a low caloric punch,
which can be great if that's the thing that you're
going for. Um, it's also got a smattering of vitamins
and minerals, a little bit of protein and fat and
fiber in there. Various studies have also been looking into
(07:42):
the potential medicinal properties of human including controlling insulin and
cholesterol levels, and as an anti inflammatory and anti microbial UM.
This does match up with some humans longstanding uses for
various ailments UM, mostly like gastro intestinal stuff, so that's
in true sting um. But beyond beyond those uses In particular,
(08:04):
a lot of the more rigorous studies to date have
been in in rats rather than in humans, so you know,
savor motto. As always, human bodies are complicated. More research
is necessary before ingesting a medicinal quantity of anything. You
should probably consult a medical professional, which we are not
(08:26):
very much not nope, m hmm are no. We do
have some numbers for you, we do so. Some sources
claim that behind black pepper, human is one of the
most popular spices in the world, and some even put
it at the second most popular spice in the world.
(08:49):
Although I feel like we've said that about other spices,
so I like according to what and like they never
the kind of article that says that never really lists
a source for that information. So I'm already sort of like, well, alright, cool,
you like human, that's great, happy for it's popular. Yeah,
I'll give you it's popular. Sure, yeah. Um. India exports
(09:14):
the most by far, nearly two hundred million kilos a year.
As of UM something like three quarters of the world's
production of human comes from India. Turkey is also up
and coming um as some ten million kilos that year,
and Syria and the UAE have also been major producers.
(09:35):
I've seen varying numbers about who imports the most, but
it seems like the US, the UK, Vietnam, in Bangladesh,
are all key importers. So mm hmmm. Well, according to
an MPR article from twenty fift human is in nine
(09:57):
of the twenty three items Ento Boltles menu, and it
makes sense that's changed. I imagine it's still highly involved. Yeah,
it makes sense. Yeah, mm hmmm. Um. In the words
of researcher and author of the book Human, Camels and Caravans,
Gary Napin quote, once it has been introduced into a
(10:21):
new land and culture, human as a way of insinuating
itself deeply into the local cuisine, which is why it
has become one of the most commonly used spices in
the world. Yeah. I love that that that human made
it into the title of that book, because it could
have been you know, any I guess any other spice
with that with that good alliteration, that good alliterative c
(10:43):
in the beginning. But but human, he chose human, Yes,
And the history of why he chose human is extremely fascinating.
It is, and we are going to get into that
history after we get back from a quick break forward
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
(11:12):
thank you. So human has been around so long and
been in use so long that pinning down when and
where it originated has been a great headache for historians.
Yeah yeah, um and because of that, some think that
(11:33):
this is one of the most perfect examples of trade,
cultural adaption, and culinary globalization that it earns the name
in the title of a book about that subject. The
general consensus is that it originated somewhere in Asia and
or the Mediterranean, but places all over have been suggested
(11:54):
as this this place of origin. Historians also believe that
because of this smell, especially when roasted, and how well
human compliments so many ingredients and flavors the world over,
it was domesticated and adopted into cuisines fairly quickly, or
at least the decision to cultivate and domesticate it was
made fairly quickly when it was introduced. UM. Experts claim
(12:19):
that folks were harvesting and using human and what is
now Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and surrounding areas during Biblical times. Yeah,
and it's mentioned a couple of times at least in
the Bible UM in both the New and Old Testaments,
UM as a precious crop and also as potential currency
for tithing. Yes, and more on that later. UM and
(12:40):
going back to that NPR article, humanists thought in some
circles to be the only English word that we can
directly trace back to Smrian, the oldest known written language.
And if that's the case, people were writing about human
as far back as four thousand years ago, which I
think it's just really cool. It's true. Yeah, Cuman shows
(13:03):
up in the oldest known recipe collection as well, the
Yelled culinary tablets from s written in what is now
a Ran. The inclusion of human in these tablets suggest
that Mesopotamians really liked spice in their food. Records indicate
that human was already fairly established in the Tigris Euphrates
(13:24):
region by the time ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamian civilizations arose again.
It was likely used both culinarily and medicinally, perhaps particularly
for digestive ailments including parasites and gastro intestinal disease, as
well as breath fresheners. I love how often breath freshers
comes out all right, Yeah, they didn't really have too
(13:47):
many options back then. Human may have also been involved
in the embalming mummification process in Egypt, and sometimes it
might have been a part of ceremonial offerings in Egypt
in the ninth century BC, and Assyrian king decided to
throw a celebratory feast at the end of the construction
of his new capital and what is now iran Um.
(14:10):
And later when he was regaling others about the amount
of food served at this feast, he mentioned town what
cuman was involved, perhaps specifically as a table condiment. And yeah,
the timeline of when human arrived and where is a
bit murky. Historians theorized Arab traders first transported human to India,
(14:35):
and the Phoenicians transported it up to North Africa and
the Iberian Peninsula, and various traders and groups introduced it
to other parts of Africa. The ancient Greeks used it
as a table spice, and they also believed it to
be an aphrodez actuh huh. I cannot speak to the
(14:59):
aphrodisi act part, but but the ancient Greeks did have
like a like a separate uh condiment container that would
have been placed out on the table just for human Yeah. Yeah,
and in ancient room as well, ancient room is uh.
They made a lot of use of human in their cooking.
It was commonplace enough that it was a part of
(15:20):
a joke about how common it was. In a first
century Roman novel, yep Um, a collection of Greek medical
text from around the fifth or fourth century BC, recommended
human as an ingredient that could prevent a woman's uterus
from moving around your stomach and causing quote hysteria. Uh yeah, yeah,
(15:44):
if y'all didn't know. Um, the root of the word
hysterical comes from this belief that that the uterus would
just migrate around in a woman's body wreaking all kinds
of havoc um. So that's not that's not what it does.
That's still still not a medical expert, but I could
(16:05):
tell you with absolute certainty that is not how it do.
This is one thing Saver can really confirmed. Yep. According
to the Epiceus, uh, the Egyptians used human to season
cooked fish and marrows. Um. The Epicius also listed human
(16:27):
as an essential ingredient every home cook should have, Like
if you're stuck in your your pantry, human needs to
be involved. Um or how plenty road of human. Yet
of all the seasonings which gratify a fastidious taste, human
is the most agreeable. Okay, all right, yeah, um. He
(16:48):
also wrote that it was frequently used to treat stomach ailments,
and that if a woman smelled it during sex, she
was more likely to conceive mm hmm. Indeed, in in
medieval England, human seeds were prized enough that they were
used as a form of currency to pay rent. Some
(17:09):
landlords accepted a pound of pepper and a pound of
cuman for the entire year. It was even accepted as
ties in some instances at this time. Historians believe this
suggests that that that this was a quote warm period
in England um warm enough to grow human in England. However,
(17:31):
humans saw so much use in England and medicines and
food that even if they were growing it there, it
wasn't enough that they didn't have to import some as well.
King Henry the Third's estate would buy human twenty pounds
at a time or about nine kilos at a time.
All right, m m m. According to Gerard's herbal which
(17:52):
was published at the end of the hundreds, human seed
quote scatter us and breaketh all the windiness of the
stomach ellie guts and matrix. Scatter it and breaketh all
the windy nous. Uh Wow, See that's wonderfully. That is
(18:13):
so much more poetic than being like, oh man, it
helps you get rid of gas. Uh, I do enjoy it,
scattering and break it. Mm hmmm uh. Spanish settlers planted
cuman in the Americas in the fifteen hundreds and sixteen hundreds.
It was being grown in modern day New Mexico by
(18:34):
sixteen hundred, and it really cemented itself as an ingredient
in the region's cuisine not that much time at all.
Um Anglo Americans at large got their first taste of
the mix of cuman and Chile's um as they moved
out west in the nineteenth century, and then the people
who are moving out west started in turn adding cuman
(18:56):
into their own cuisines. Lady Bird Johnson, the first lady
from Texas, shared her recipe for pedronales river chile Um.
One teaspoon of cuman seed um and this was written
in Spanish was on the ingredients list, and this is
often pointed out as an indicator that human was really
(19:20):
entering the US mainstream at large. Sure sure m hm.
And public awareness of human in the US grew in
the nineteen sixties when restaurants like Taco Bell were growing
in popularity, and then again when South Asian immigrants arrived
and brought their culinary traditions with them, and a lot
of them involving human so good, so good and so
(19:43):
many things. Yes, yeah, and I and I do I
do love that. I do love that quote, um, that
you gave us right before the beginning of the history
section of right, just just the way that it really
works itself into kind of like the base of so
many cuisines that it's touched. Yeah, yeah, me too, because
(20:05):
I was just thinking of like often I try to
think of all the dishes I've used it in, and
it's just such a variety and just my own bubble
of experience. And then things like yeah, you can get
Indian food and Mexican food and just food from all over,
and Cuman is involved and like significantly involved. Yeah yeah,
(20:27):
and um and and right eating you you wind up
with these very different flavor profiles from all of the
other ingredients that are involved. But but right, just that
that that kind of like that kind of like sort
of like baseline earthy, spicy, warm, note and so nice,
so nice. Yes, you know what, I actually just made
(20:51):
a fajita chicken soup. Oh, oh, it's good, but it
has human in it. But you know what I added,
I have like a a lot of fresher reguano. I
think it's a reguno. I'm pretty sure it's a reagono
that's growing in a pot that I have, and I
was like, what can I use this in? I'll just
(21:12):
put it in here. It was actually a really nice touch. Yeah,
the ir reguno, it just added a lot. But like
the cuban and reguno coming together. Oh yeah, I oh goodness, No,
that might be one of the other humans. I was
about to say that the time all um or time
(21:32):
timey all might be one of the other uh compounds
that shows up in human. But but now that I'm
thinking about it, I think that was one of the
things I read about Black Human while I was still
trying to sess out the difference between the two. Mm hmm. Well,
that's what we have to say about human from now
it is. We do have some listener mail for you, though,
(21:53):
and we are going to get into that after we
get back from one more quick break for a word
from our sponsor. And we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you, and we're back with listen. I think some
(22:19):
Cuman in joining the lovely results. Yeah, I don't know
if we I don't know if we matched sound on
that one, but I definitely got the vibe. Yes, the
vibe is what matters. Sheldon wrote, you did something on labeling,
(22:41):
but it continues to fascinate me, and I'm just sending
you this food for thought, for thoughts about food. I'm
looking at a can of coconut milk. There is printed
information right on the can, but a paper secret covered
that with other information. I peeled it off to compare
the two. Um guessing that what is printed on the
(23:01):
can is aimed at Europe because it gives the information
in English, French, and German. The paper label had English
and French, which I'm guessing is here for Canada. It's
the differences that I find interesting. European serving size is
one hundred million leaders, which makes sense since the math
(23:21):
is easy to compare with other things. The Canadian serving
size is eighty three milli leaders, so that makes it
difficult to compare with other things. Oh, eight three milli
eaters is one third cup. Doing the math numbers agree,
but the European version doesn't have cholesterol, potassium, calcium, and
iron but there are other differences. After opening. In Europe,
(23:48):
you can keep it for two days in the refrigerator,
but for Canada you can keep it for three days
in the fridge. M M. The ingredients and Europe it
says that it six coconut extract and water, and Canada
it's ninety nine point nine five coconut milk and polyscorbate
sixty again M. When the border opens, I'm going to
(24:14):
go down to the States and get a can to
see how it's labeled there. Ah, But anything, it's still different.
If nothing else, it shows how labeling is politically influenced. Yeah, yeah,
or or even if not like like politically necessarily then
certainly based upon the research and the legal system in
(24:38):
whatever country it's coming from. Yeah. First of all, I
love this. I love that you're really looking into these.
But yeah, I mean, certainly when we talk in a
lot of these episodes, you know you've got the European
Union passing laws versus with the United States is passing
whiles around um and yeah, the measurements that are accepted,
(25:02):
and it does make it quite confusing sometimes when I've
certainly been in the grocery store several times where I'm
like calculating based on what the label is and based
on what I know and what I don't know what.
I gotta bring up my phone some calculations. But I
would be really interested once you get to the U S.
Which the border has opened, uh, if you're vaccinated, just
(25:26):
as of recently, so all right, you know, yeah, I
would love to hear what the comparison is. Yeah, oh
I I do, yeah, I do always love that and
um in international supermarkets here in the States, finding different
forms of labeling and trying to sus out like a
lot of the time they have an English one printed
(25:48):
on there, um, but sometimes it's only in the native language,
and I'm kind of like, okay, what could this possibly mean? Yes, yes,
we've gotten some guests from listeners that have been fun.
If that as well, where it will be like kick
kat that's only got you know, Japanese writing on or
something like that. We're just staring at it, like, so
(26:11):
what do you think? What do you think this means?
What is this picture of? And sometimes you eat it
and it doesn't necessarily have a flavor profile that you're
super familiar with, and then I don't know if you're
me like you get out, you're like, weird Japanese dictionaries
and try to cross reference, but like it's been a
really long time since you've taken Japanese. And then like
(26:32):
two weeks later you're like, oh, it's chestnut flavored and
that's and that's it. Like that's kind of just a
cure occurs to you, Like oh yeah, yeah, it's a
little bit antiquinactic, but it was still delicious, so that's fine.
Oh yes, yes, Tracy wrote, I'm listening to your liquid
(26:56):
Smoke episode as I type, and a few things have
note popped in to my mind. Fruit flies. I have
a good friend who always had fruit flies in his
college apartment. A one night, they had a party and
there were some mostly empty beer bottles left out. In
the morning, they found the bottles filled with the flies
who had gone in for the beer and never made
it out of the bottle. Ever since, he has recommended
(27:17):
taking an empty bottle with a neck, such as a
wine bottle, and putting something attractive to the flies in
the bottom, like beer or sugar water. The flies are
attracted to the liquid but have a hard time getting
back out. I did this on my patio last summer.
And it worked well to keep the flies at bay.
Perhaps worth a shot, mc ribbs please do a micrib episode.
I'm particularly interested in the economics of it. I've long
(27:38):
had a theory that the mcribbs limited availability was tied
to pork surpluses, meaning the market price would drop and
make it cheap for McDonald's to get and sell. Or
maybe it was a limited supply thing since meat prices
are so high due to the pandemic and the mcribb
is back. I think my theory is wrong, and I
would love to know more. Mm hm, yes, yeah, I
(28:02):
know there's been some recent articles about maybe not this
aspect of the McRib but how it does impact the
like really impacts the pork market. Yeah, yeah, sure, Well,
I mean the same way that um, the chicken nuggets
had such a huge impact on the chicken market in
the United States. So yeah, I would I would love
(28:22):
to learn more, definitely, because it's one of those things
where I just hear people talking about it and getting
so excited about it, and like it's in the news.
I'm just kind of like, what, Yeah, I'd like to
learn more. But yeah, I don't think i've ever had one.
I know, you haven't eaten at McDonald's and like over
(28:43):
twenty years, right, yeah, since I was four years old? Yeah,
well yes, would would your curiosity stop? I mean like, like,
would you like like if if we went to a
McDonald's together and like I got a McRib Yeah, would
(29:05):
you try it? Mm hmmm, probably no, But I can't
say one now. So the closest I got to ever
breaking this was when I was in China and everyone
loved the mcflurry. Nobody loved the mc flurry, And one night,
like it was easier to order things for me in
(29:29):
americanized restaurants. That doesn't mean I'm ate mostly in americanized restaurants,
but sometimes when you like tired and it was like
four am, you were looking for the easy thing to
now I totally see you. Yeah, yeah, And that there
was one night I got all the way up to
the front of McDonald's I wanted that mcflurry. I looked
(29:53):
the person in the eye and I turned away. Uh
oh wow, dude. Yeah, so I can't say one. I wouldn't,
but it probably I wouldn't. I would love to hear
about it, though, and I would love to research it.
All right. Well, well, I don't want to like like
(30:16):
like present you with a taxing moral quandary or anything
like that. You know, I no pressure, no macrib pressure.
Oh but I do. I want to learn about it
more honestly, Like I said, I do get a real
fascination with these chain restaurants and what takes off and
where it takes off and why it takes off where
(30:36):
it takes off. Yeah, yeah, sure sure, And I I
always wonder with what very specific stuff like that, like
like maybe I don't know, yeah, maybe we could do
an episode about like like two or three of these
kind of like special addition dishes going out. Yeah, yeah,
I would love to do that, honestly. Um, something I'm
(30:58):
kind of fascinated. Then that's the truth. Um. Also, thank
you for the fruit fly note. They are so cost
but I'm good try I'll try this, and I really
appreciate the note. Um, And and thanks to both of
you for writing in. We always love hearing from you.
(31:22):
If you would like to email as you can. Our
email is hello at savor pod dot com. But we're
also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod. And we do hope to
hear from you savor Is production of iHeart Radio. For
more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always for superproducers Dylan Fagan
(31:46):
and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we
hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
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Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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