Nigella sativa
{{Short description|Species of annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Speciesbox
|image=Nsativa001Wien.jpg
|genus=Nigella
|species=sativa
|authority=L.
|synonyms ={{Species list
|Nigella cretica|Mill.
|Nigella indica|Roxb.
|Nigella truncata|Viv.
}}
}}
Nigella sativa (black caraway, also known as habbatul sawdah (black seed) or habbatul barakaah (blessed seed) in the Arabic language, black cumin, nigella, kalonji, mangrail, charnushka{{r|serious}}){{r|GRIN|Heiss|drugs}} is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to western Asia (Arabia, the Levant, Cyprus, Turkey, Iran and Iraq), and eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania), but naturalized over a much wider area, including parts of Europe, northern Africa and east to Myanmar.{{r|POWO_711687-1}} It is used as a spice in many cuisines, especially in the Arab and Muslim World.{{r|engels}}
Etymology
The genus name Nigella is a diminutive of the Latin {{Lang|la|niger}} "black", referring to the seed color.{{r|engels|HyamPank95}} The specific epithet sativa means "cultivated".{{r|engels}}
In English, Nigella sativa and its seed are variously called black caraway, black seed, black cumin, fennel flower, nigella, nutmeg flower, Roman coriander,{{r|GRIN|engels}} black onion seed{{cite web |title=Nigella seed |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/nigella-seed-glossary |website=BBC Good Food |access-date=16 July 2023 |language=en}} and kalonji.{{r|drugs}}
Black seed and black caraway may also refer to Elwendia persica, which is also known as Bunium persicum.[http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Bunium+persicum Bunium persicum - (Boiss.) B.Fedtsch. Common Name Black Caraway]
Description
N. sativa grows to {{convert|20|-|30|cm|abbr=on}} tall, with finely divided, linear (but not thread-like) leaves. The flowers are delicate, and usually coloured pale blue and white, with five to ten petals. The fruit is a large and inflated capsule composed of three to seven united follicles, each containing numerous seeds which are used as spice, sometimes as a replacement for Bunium bulbocastanum (also called black cumin).{{r|engels}}
{{gallery
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|Nigella sativa MHNT.BOT.2015.34.22.jpg|Fruits
|Black cumin seed.png|Seeds
|Nigella Sativa Seed.jpg|Close-up of the seeds
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Culinary uses
The seeds of N. sativa are used as a spice in many cuisines. In Palestine, the seeds are ground to make bitter qizha paste.{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190327-is-the-world-ready-for-this-palestinian-dish|title=Is the world ready for this Palestinian dish?|last=Berger|first=Miriam|work=BBC News - Travel|date=2019-03-28|language=en|access-date=2019-03-28}}
The dry-roasted seeds flavour curries, vegetables, and pulses. They can be used as a seasoning in recipes with pod fruit, vegetables, salads, and poultry. In some cultures, the black seeds are used to flavour bread products. They are used as a part of the spice mixture panch phoron (meaning a mixture of five spices) in many recipes in Bengali cuisine and most recognizably in some variations of naan, such as nân-e barbari.{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/nigella-seeds-what-the-heck-do-i-do-with-those-29298883/?no-ist|title=Nigella Seeds: What the Heck Do I Do with Those?|publisher=The Smithsonian Online|author=Bramen L|website=smithsonian.com|date=16 February 2011|access-date=4 January 2015}} Nigella is also used in tresse cheese, a braided string cheese called majdouleh or majdouli in the Middle East.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration classifies Nigella sativa as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use as a spice, natural seasoning, or flavouring.{{Cite web|title=Substances generally recognized as safe: Sec. 182.10. Spices and other natural seasonings and flavorings|url=https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=182.10|publisher=US Food and Drug Administration, Code of Federal Regulations, 21CFR182.10|date=2019-04-01|access-date=2020-05-17}}
History
Archaeological evidence about the earliest cultivation of N. sativa dates back three millennia, with N. sativa seeds found in several sites from ancient Egypt, including the Tomb of Tutankhamun.{{cite book |first1=Daniel |last1=Zohary |first2= Maria |last2=Hopf |first3= Ehud |last3=Weiss|title=Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin |isbn=9780199549061 |edition= Fourth |publisher=Oxford: University Press |year=2012 |page=206}} Seeds were found in a Hittite flask in Turkey from the second millennium BC.{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |author=Saliha B, Sipahib T, Oybak Dönmez, E|title=Ancient nigella seeds from Boyalı Höyük in north-central Turkey |volume=124 |issue=3 |year=2009 |pages=416–20 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2009.05.039|pmid=19505557}}
N. sativa may have been used as a condiment of the Old World to flavour food. The Persian physician Avicenna described N. sativa as a treatment for dyspnea in his The Canon of Medicine.{{cite book |last=Avicenna |date=1999 |title= Canon of Medicine |location=Chicago |publisher= Kazi Publications }} N. sativa was used in the Middle East as a traditional medicine.{{Cite journal|last1=Hassanien|first1=Minar M. M.|last2=Abdel-Razek|first2=Adel G.|last3=Rudzińska|first3=Magdalena|last4=Siger|first4=Aleksander|last5=Ratusz|first5=Katarzyna|last6=Przybylski|first6=Roman|date=15 July 2014|title=Phytochemical contents and oxidative stability of oils from non-traditional sources|journal=European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology|language=en|volume=116|issue=11|pages=1563–1571|doi=10.1002/ejlt.201300475|issn=1438-7697}}
Chemistry
Oils are 32% to 40% of the total composition of N. sativa seeds.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jssas.2013.12.001|title=Chemical investigation of Nigella sativa L. seed oil|vauthors=Gharby S, Harhar H, Guillaume D, Roudani A, Boulbaroud S, Ibrahimi M, Ahmad M, Sultana S, BenHaddah T, Chafchaouni-Moussaouii I, Charroufa Z|journal=Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences|volume=14|issue=2|pages=172–177|year=2015|doi-access=free}} N. sativa oil contains linoleic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, and trans-anethole, and other minor constituents, such as nigellicine, nigellidine, nigellimine, and nigellimine N-oxide. Aromatics include thymoquinone, dihydrothymoquinone, p-cymene, carvacrol, α-thujene, thymol, α-pinene, β-pinene and trans-anethole. Protein and various alkaloids are present in the seeds.
Medicinal use
Despite considerable use of N. sativa in traditional medicine practices in Africa and Asia, there is insufficient high-quality clinical evidence to indicate that consuming the seeds or oil can be used to treat human diseases. One meta-analysis of clinical trials found weak evidence that N. sativa has a short-term benefit on lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure.{{cite journal|vauthors=Sahebkar A, Soranna D, Liu X, et al. |title=A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of supplementation with Nigella sativa (black seed) on blood pressure |journal=Journal of Hypertension |volume=34 |issue=11 |pages=2127–35 |year=2016 |pmid=27512971|doi=10.1097/HJH.0000000000001049 |s2cid=3226588 |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1097%2FHJH.0000000000001049 }} A 2016 review indicated that N. sativa supplementation may lower total cholesterol, LDL, and triglyceride levels.{{cite journal|vauthors=Sahebkar A, Beccuti G, Simental-Mendía LE, Nobili V, Bo S|title=Nigella sativa (black seed) effects on plasma lipid concentrations in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials|pmid=26875640|journal=Pharmacological Research|volume=106|pages=37–50|year=2016|doi=10.1016/j.phrs.2016.02.008|hdl=2318/1562112 |hdl-access=free}}
See also
- Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist)
References
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{{Herbs and spices}}
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