Cumin: like or dislike?

Welcome to Like or Dislike, where you get to share how you really feel about ingredients from the pantry, ingredients I'm thinking about adding to my pantry, other seasonal foods, and favorite cooking gear. The things you like are sure to find their way to the recipes here on The Perfect Pantry, so do tell.

I absolutely cannot imagine cooking without cumin, a spice that has traveled all around the world from its origins in the eastern Mediterranean and India. Think of it: without cumin, we'd have no Mexican food, no Mid-Eastern food, no Indian food, no food from the American Southwest or South America or most of North or West Africa. Cumin has a distinctive, musky flavor and and seductive, smoky aroma. Although it tastes best if you grind the seeds as you need them, I confess that I use good quality ground cumin more often. If you love cumin, you can't live without it. I'm a big-time cumin lover. How about you?

Cumin: like or dislike?

Last week: silicone baking mats. Not a lot of fans, though those who are, use them more for roasting, toasting nuts, anything with cheese, etc. One reader said that when the one she has dies, she won't replace it. That's how I feel about mine, too. Then again, I have quite a few of them! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Last week: silicone baking mats. Not a lot of fans, though those who are, use them more for roasting, toasting nuts, anything with cheese, etc. One reader said that when the one she has dies, she won't replace it. That's how I feel about mine, too. Then again, I have quite a few of them! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Comments

Love cumin! I linked to a cumin recipe on FB the other day and got two readers commenting on how cumin smells like body odor, but less so if it's roasted. Huh? I was really surprised. Maybe it's a well-known factor and I have no sense of smell. ;-) I also love garlic so what can I say?

Shirley

Definitely like cumin in middle eastern, Indian, Pakistani food - and in anything else I think it will enhance the flavours.

Lol! I love cumin!!! I recently made black bean burgers and added cumin and I thought... It kinda smell like musty body odor... But tasted delicious!

I absolutely LOVE cumin. It is my VERY favorite seasoning!!!!!!

Love! Cumin is a key ingredient in my Moroccan spice mix, it definitely gets added to a batch of chili and gives meatloaf that extra "something". I think its aroma is distinctive and very appealing.

love it---
really brings out flavor---
one of our staple spices--
gordon

If I had to pick only one spice (perish that thought) it would have to be cumin. Love it in Mexican dishes, curries, middle eastern food; so many good ways to use it!

Silicon baking mats are the most wonderful thing for lace cookies! Apart from that, though, I wouldn't miss them.

When we sold spices, we would describe cumin as having the smell of 'dirty feet.' It is definitely not the scent of mainstream American cooking! My learning curve progressed smoothly, along with all the foods I learned to cook from places where cumin is essential to the character of the food - my favorite flavor profiles! (Look at The Flavor-Principle Cookbook, by Elisabeth Rozin, for more on this outlook, and smart, tasty recipes.)

I love cumin and use it quite often. Smoked cumin is wonderful.

I will use cumin when it is called for in a recipe but do not seek it out to add to everyday cooking.

I have found that I only really like cumin if I grind the seeds and then dry toast them. For some reason, cumin is one of the strongest spices in the world to my taste buds, so I have to be careful with it.

I love cumin and all the recipes that I make with it.

I never used cumin until I moved to southern Arizona. Now I use it all the time
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LOVE cumin! i understand the "dirty feet" and "musty body odor" comments....i think "earthy" is a good word for that, but so are mushrooms and i love them as well. i use cumin quite often, i use it to give an otherwise blah-same-old dish some zing, like carrots; we get tired of them made the same way, so cumin and paprika wakes them up lol. it is a spice i make sure to have on hand at all times ;0)

Cumin is awful. And if you can't live with the cuisine, other than those mentioned, then your taste buds have been compromised by this terribly strong herb.

I love cumin and so does my family. Years ago I briefly dated a guy who couldn't stand cumin for all the reasons mentioned here, and he just didn't like Mexican food in general. We didn't last long.

I love cumin! It's one of my favorite spices.

Love the mild, acidic, smokey heat of cumin. Just used a bunch of it yesterday while turning a bag of dried chickpeas into a batch of baked felafel for the freezer.

I love cumin, use it all the time!

Cumin is my number 1!! I couldn't live without it.