Cumin Seed

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

The table says cumin is loaded with iron. A teaspoon of it is not — read the serving size first.

Stage by stage

Intake (Grinding releases volatiles): Crushing or grinding ruptures oil cells and releases cuminaldehyde and terpenes.
Cooking and stomach (Fat-soluble dispersal): Blooming in oil extracts the fat-soluble aroma compounds; prolonged heat drives them off.
Small intestine (Non-haem iron absorbed): Cumin's iron is non-haem and poorly absorbed, helped by vitamin C and hindered by phytate.
Whole diet (Palatability effect): The real contribution is flavour that makes pulses, vegetables and wholegrains worth eating often.

Time to effect

Immediate: Flavour effect is immediate; there is no nutritional time course at culinary doses.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Pricey — roughly £18 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Non-haem iron
Volatile oils (cuminaldehyde)
Calcium

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 426
Protein: 17.8g
Carbohydrate: 33.7g
of which sugars: 2.2g
Fat: 22.3g
of which saturated: 1.7g
Fibre: 10.5g
Sodium: 168mg

Food vs. supplement

Cumin capsules and extracts are sold on the strength of small trials in lipids and blood glucose, at doses far above what cooking delivers. The evidence is preliminary and inconsistent, and nothing about the culinary use of cumin depends on it. Use the seed for flavour; if iron is the concern, that is a conversation about the whole diet and, sometimes, about supplementation of iron itself.

Kitchen tip

Buy whole seeds and grind them as needed. Toast them dry in a pan until they smell nutty and darken slightly, then grind — or bloom the ground spice in hot oil for twenty seconds before the onions go in. Ground cumin bought in bulk is stale within months; whole seed keeps for years.

Common myth

“Cumin is one of the most iron-rich foods you can eat.” In reality: Per 100g the figure is genuinely enormous, which is how cumin ends up on iron-rich food lists. But a normal teaspoon is two grams and supplies about a milligram of the poorly absorbed non-haem form. The per-100g convention makes every spice look like a superfood; serving size is the correction.