Caraway 271
synonyms of Carum carvi L. mentioned in various literatures are Carum decussatum
Gillib, Carum aromaticum Salisb. Carum officinale S.F. Gray, Apium carvi Crantz,
Seseli carvi Lam, Seseli carum Scop. Ligusticum carvi Roth, Sium carvi Bernh,
Bunicum carvi Bieb, Foeniculum carvi Limk, Pimpinella carvi Jessen and Selinum
carvi E.H.L. As per the conventional classification of spices, out of five types, viz.,
hot spices, mild spices, aromatic spices, herbs and aromatic vegetables, caraway is
classified as a mild spice and on the basis of plant organs used, it is known as seed
because the dried fruits are mostly used as spices.
15.1.2 Description
The caraway plant is an erect, herbaceous, biennial herb with a thick tuberous rootstock.
The plant height varies from 0.5 to 1.0 m. The stem is cylindrical, robust, divertically
branched, aromatic, straight and leafy. The leaves are pinnately compound and ultimately
segments of lower leaves are lanceolate. Flowers are minute, borne in terminally or
axillary compound umbels producing clusters of white flowers. The flowers have
bracts 1-3, small, linear or none; calyx teeth 5, small or none; petals 5, notched, often
enlarged and erect. Carpels are rounded and narrowed upwards. Fruits are brown,
cremocarp, 3–6 mm long, ovoid or oblong, glabrous and laterally flattened. Seeds are
dorsally flattened smooth or slightly grooved on the inner surface. The fruit when
ripe splits into narrow, elongated carpels 4 to 6.5 mm long, curved, pointed at the
ends with five longitudinal ridges on the surface. The seeds have a warm, sweet,
slightly sharp taste and flavour (Malhotra, 2004). The sematic chromosome numbers
are 2n-20.
15.1.3 Production and international trade
Caraway is grown significantly on a large scale in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland,
Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania. The Netherlands has an outstanding position in the
world for caraway production. Some further countries Sweden, Norway, Spain and
Austria, were mentioned as caraway producers, (Heeger, 1956), however, production
seems not to be a determining factor today in the world market from these countries.
From the last few decades, the production of caraway has shifted to new regions, such
as Canada, USA, Finland, Syria and Morocco. The Carum carvi plant as natural flora
is prevalent in North and Central Europe, England, East and Central France, South
Spain, North Italy, Balkan Peninsula, Central Asia (Nemeth, 1998). It has spread as a
result of human activity also in Holland, North Africa, North America and New Zealand.
The principal commercial source of caraway seed is the Netherlands. The seed is
also cultivated in Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Britain, India, Morocco, Newfoundland,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Syria and the USA (Weiss, 2002). About 3500 metric
tonnes of caraway seed and value added products are imported annually into the USA
and about 80% of this tonnage arrives from the Netherlands, the remainder coming
from Poland and Denmark. Switzerland and Austria get about 500 tonnes of caraway,
70% from the Netherlands and the remainder from Poland. The Netherlands, Poland
and Germany are the major exporters in the world market and export caraway seed
to the USA, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. In India, caraway grows wild in the
North Himalayan region and is cultivated as a winter crop in the plains and a summer
crop in Kashmir, Kumaon, Garhwal and Chamba at attitudes of 2740 to 3660 m
above mean sea level.