Nigella sativa

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Ordo: Ranunculales

Familia: Ranunculaceae
Subfamilia: Ranunculoideae
Tribus: Nigelleae
Genus: Nigella
Sectio: N. sect. Nigella
Species: Nigella sativa
Varietates: N. s. var. hispidula – N. s. var. sativa
Name

Nigella sativa L., Sp. Pl., éd. 1: 534. 1753.
References

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 534. Reference page.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Nigella sativa in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 08-Apr-12.

Vernacular names
العربية: حبة البركة
azərbaycanca: Çörəkotu
bosanski: Čurekot
català: Pebreta
čeština: černucha setá
Deutsch: Echter Schwarzkümmel
ދިވެހިބަސް: ކަޅު ދިރި
English: black cumin, black caraway, black onion seed
Esperanto: sema nigelo
فارسی: سیاه‌دانه
suomi: Ryytineito
français: Nigelle cultivée
עברית: קצח תרבותי
hornjoserbsce: Sywna čornucha
Bahasa, Indonesia: Jintan hitam
lietuvių: Sėjamoji juodgrūdė
latviešu: Sējas melnsēklīte
Madhurâ: jhinten èreng, jhinteng celleng
Nederlands: Zwarte komijn
polski: czarnuszka siewna
русский: Чернушка посевная
slovenčina: černuška siata
српски / srpski: Чурукот
svenska: Svartkummin
Türkçe: çörek otu
українська: Чорнушка посівна

Nigella sativa (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella or kalonji)[2][3][4] is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania) and western Asia (Turkey, Iran and Iraq), but naturalized over a much wider area, including parts of Europe, northern Africa and east to Myanmar.[1]

Etymology

The genus name Nigella is a diminutive of the Latin niger 'black', referring to the seed color.[5][6] The specific epithet sativa means 'cultivated'.[5]

In English, N. sativa and its seed are variously called black caraway, black seed, black cumin, fennel flower, nigella, nutmeg flower, Roman coriander,[2][5] and kalonji.[4]

Blackseed and black caraway may also refer to Bunium persicum.[7]
Description
N. sativa grows to 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) 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 black cumin (Bunium

Culinary uses

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration classifies Nigella sativa L. (black cumin, black caraway) as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use as a spice, natural seasoning, or flavouring.[8] The seeds of N. sativa are used as a spice in many cuisines.[5] In Palestine, the seeds are ground to make bitter qizha paste.[9]

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, and are used as part of the spice mixture panch phoron (meaning a mixture of five spices) and alone in many recipes in Bengali cuisine and most recognizably in naan.[10] Nigella is also used in tresse cheese, a braided string cheese called majdouleh or majdouli in the Middle East.
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 Tutankhamun's tomb.[4][11] Seeds were found in a Hittite flask in Turkey from the second millennium BC.[12]

N. sativa may have been used as a condiment of the Old World to flavour food.[5][11] The Muslim Persian physician Avicenna in his Canon of Medicine described N. sativa as a treatment for dyspnea.[13] N. sativa was used in the Middle East as a traditional medicine.[14]
Chemistry

Oils are 32% to 40% of the total composition of N. sativa seeds.[4][15] 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.[4] Aromatics include thymoquinone, dihydrothymoquinone, p-cymene, carvacrol, α-thujene, thymol, α-pinene, β-pinene and trans-anethole.[4] Protein and various alkaloids are present in the seeds.[4]
Research

One meta-analysis of clinical trials found weak evidence that N. sativa has a short-term benefit on lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure, with limited evidence that various extracts of black seed can reduce triglycerides and LDL and total cholesterol, while raising HDL cholesterol.[16] 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 provides any benefit to human health.[4]
See also

Nigella damascena, also known as love-in-a-mist

References

"Nigella sativa L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
"Nigella sativa". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 11 December 2017.
Heiss, Andreas (December 2005). "The oldest evidence of Nigella damascena L. (Ranunculaceae) and its possible introduction to central Europe". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 14 (4): 562–570. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.156.85. doi:10.1007/s00334-005-0060-4. JSTOR 23419312. S2CID 18895456.
"Kalonji". Drugs.com. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
Engels, Gayle; Brinckmann, Josef (2017). "Nigella sativa". Herbalgram, American Botanical Council. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
Hyam, R. & Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). Plants and their names: a concise dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4. p. 341.
Bunium persicum - (Boiss.) B.Fedtsch. Common Name Black Caraway
"Substances generally recognized as safe: Sec. 182.10. Spices and other natural seasonings and flavorings". US Food and Drug Administration, Code of Federal Regulations, 21CFR182.10. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
Berger, Miriam (28 March 2019). "Is the world ready for this Palestinian dish?". BBC News - Travel. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
Bramen L (16 February 2011). "Nigella Seeds: What the Heck Do I Do with Those?". smithsonian.com. The Smithsonian Online. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria; Weiss, Ehud (2012). Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin (Fourth ed.). Oxford: University Press. p. 206. ISBN 9780199549061.
Saliha B, Sipahib T, Oybak Dönmez, E (2009). "Ancient nigella seeds from Boyalı Höyük in north-central Turkey". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 124 (3): 416–20. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.05.039. PMID 19505557.
Avicenna (1999). Canon of Medicine. Chicago: Kazi Publications.
Hassanien, Minar M. M.; Abdel-Razek, Adel G.; Rudzińska, Magdalena; Siger, Aleksander; Ratusz, Katarzyna; Przybylski, Roman (15 July 2014). "Phytochemical contents and oxidative stability of oils from non-traditional sources". European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. 116 (11): 1563–1571. doi:10.1002/ejlt.201300475. ISSN 1438-7697.
Gharby S, Harhar H, Guillaume D, Roudani A, Boulbaroud S, Ibrahimi M, Ahmad M, Sultana S, BenHaddah T, Chafchaouni-Moussaouii I, Charroufa Z (2015). "Chemical investigation of Nigella sativa L. seed oil". Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences. 14 (2): 172–177. doi:10.1016/j.jssas.2013.12.001.
Sahebkar A, Soranna D, Liu X, et al. (2016). "A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of supplementation with Nigella sativa (black seed) on blood pressure". Journal of Hypertension. 34 (11): 2127–35. doi:10.1097/HJH.0000000000001049. PMID 27512971. S2CID 3226588.