What is black cumin ?
Black cumin, also known as nutmeg flower, is the best known species of the Nigellafamilie.
Despite the name, black cumin, the plant has nothing to do with ordinary cumin (Cuminum cyminum), who used every herb appeared in the Netherlands. It also has nothing to do with the real black cumin (Bunium persicum), which is grown in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and India. Kashmir is the root of the real black cumin also eaten as a vegetable.
In the kitchen are usually used roasted seeds because they have a muskaatnootachtige taste. In Indian, Turkish, Persian, Egyptian and Greek cuisine, the seeds are used to decorate bread or ground to give flavor to meat dishes.
In the Jewish Bible Isaiah 28: 23-29 - is the discipline of the Lord compared to the threshing of black cumin (Hebrew: ketzah). In ancient Egypt, it has been found that black cumin was given in the tombs of nobles. Only very valuable things that were needed for the afterlife were obviously placed in these graves, demonstrating the importance of black cumin turns. Later finds this plant back to Hippocrates and Dioscoredes and through their writings, this plant is included in herbal books of the Middle Ages.
Black cumin is used since ancient times as a medicine. The plant part that is most commonly used are the seeds, especially the oil extracted from these seeds. Abou Hourayra narrated that Muhammad had said: "Use black cumin (Arabic: as-Habba Sawda), it is a cure for every disease except death." This explains that to date in Muslim communities around the world and won black cumin oil in particular can be found from these seeds. Ibn Sina (980-1037) describes this plant as an energy supplier and suitable against fatigue and depression. The applications that he wrote were both externally (eczema, hair loss) and also internally (incontinence, gallstones, constipation, etc.)
Black cumin currently has five (5) FDA (Food and Drug Administration) separate US patents and one (1) in the United Kingdom for the treatment of:
-Diabetes
-Inhibition of the growth of cancer cells
-Improvement of the immune system
-Viral infections
-Psoriasis
-Asthma