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50 grams, seeds
Buy It With
Umami, earthy and hay-like
Use in the same way as ‘regular’ cumin.
Cumin responds particularly well to heating and roasting. This releases all the aromas. However, if it burns, it quickly becomes bitter.
After roasting, crush or grind with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.
Salt brings cumin to life.
Pairs well with lamb and beef, rice, root vegetables, tomatoes, bell peppers, legumes, and yogurt.
You can use black cumin in the same way as regular cumin. The cumin has an earthy and subtly roasted flavour, with undertones of fresh hay. We chose black cumin because it lacks the sometimes stale taste of 'regular cumin'. The flavours are best brought out when the seeds are briefly heated in oil.
We work with Jawid Kasher from 'The Spice Change'. He founded this organisation to provide spice farmers in his home country Afghanistan with a fairer income through short supply chains. His nephew Abdul travelled with him through this northern region of Afghanistan to collect wild-harvested cumin from 43 families.
Black cumin grows exclusively in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan, and should not be confused with nigella seeds – which are also often mistakenly called black cumin.
How is this chain structured?
All our chains have their own story. Their own piece of land, their own farmer. It is grown and processed in a certain way. Journey with us to the story behind this taste.
These wild black cumin seeds come from the Badakhshan region in Afghanistan. The mountain range in this area is called the Hindu Kush. And it is in these mountains that this variant of cumin thrives. It is our most exciting supply chain to date because the unsafe situation prevents us from going there ourselves. But if we can find a way to generate extra income for this isolated population, plagued by war and misfortune for decades, then we believe we must make an effort to do so.
This black cumin grows in the wild, and not on plantations where many chemicals and pesticides are used to achieve the largest possible harvest.
The cumin is picked in the mountains and then cleaned to remove wild grasses and other undesirable materials. Once the cumin has been cleaned, it is packaged and shipped.
Growth Cycle: The plant flowers in the summer months and develops seeds in autumn.
Harvest: The seeds are hand-picked between July and October, depending on the snow, altitude, and how the seeds develop.
Jawid - The Spice Change
"Since 2022, we have worked together with The Good Spice on a shared mission: to support poor families while providing our customers with healthy products, and fairly rewarding the farmers for their hard work—building a sustainable business and hope, together."
Let's make an impact!
Each chain not only has its own story, but also its own challenges. We would like to tell you what impact we make per chain and how we deal with specific challenges.
Economic activity in Afghanistan is scarce, and this is one of the activities that can offer hope. Especially for women, who are not allowed to work under the Taliban except in fields or indoors, this supply chain also provides a solution.
43 families in Afghanistan receive an additional source of income, which they desperately need, through the purchase of our cumin.
Moreover, this black cumin grows mainly in the wild and not on plantations where many chemicals and pesticides are used to achieve the largest possible harvest.
The Spice Change pays the families 1350 Afghani per kilo. This is an extra source of income for them, as they can pick this cumin in the wild and therefore do not have to plant it themselves. We pay The Spice Change €37.41 per kilo for the cumin.
Last year, the average market price for cumin was 800 - 1400 Afghani per kilo. However, after the initial purchase, a second cleaning process is required, which drives up the market price because weight is lost during this second cleaning process. As a result, the market price fluctuates considerably.
Normally, we always visit the farmers we work with in person. However, we cannot visit this supply chain. Additionally, the families we work with all wish to remain anonymous due to very understandable reasons for distrust. Building trust will take years.
Secondly, it is not possible to import from Afghanistan to the Netherlands. Therefore, an extra step must be added to the supply chain. The spices go to Pakistan, where an exchange with Afghanistan is still possible, and from Pakistan, we can then import the cumin into the Netherlands.
Black cumin grows wild in certain areas and is a highly valued spice. However, it is often tampered with. For example, large traders mix common cumin with black cumin to improve the taste, or the cleaning process is not properly carried out because the weight is then higher (and payment is based on weight).
Local traders determine the price, and several monopolies are active that collaborate with India and Pakistan to dominate the market.
Air, light, and moisture are detrimental to the quality of your spices. Therefore, store them in a tightly sealed jar or tin that is opaque (or in a dark kitchen cupboard or drawer). Also, do not store them above your stove, as cooking fumes can reach them there. Always ensure that you transfer spices from a repack into a tightly sealable jar or tin as quickly as possible.
The shelf life of spices is primarily determined by the loss of flavour that occurs over time, as they generally do not spoil otherwise. We maintain a shelf life of 2.5 - 3 years after harvest. This depends partly on the time of packaging and also on whether they are whole spices that you need to grind yourself or pre-ground powder.
Spices in the supermarket are often already 2-3 years old before they are even packaged and then receive an additional shelf life of 3-5 years. Primarily use your senses to assess whether they are still good. At some point, there will simply be no flavour left, which would be a waste of a nice meal!
We do not have organic certification, even though our spices meet these standards. All farmers work in harmony with nature and without pesticides, but the certification process is unfortunately very expensive. It's actually unaffordable for small farmers. And we want to show them that it is indeed worthwhile to cultivate spices sustainably. That there are people who are willing to pay for a quality natural product and that they don't first have to make a huge, impossible investment in the form of certification.
A number of our farmers do have the certificate, by the way. Corporations, for example, can apply for the certification process jointly, which makes it much more affordable. But to be allowed to put this on the packaging, our entire chain would also have to be certified, including the Social Workshop where the spices are packaged. This is currently not possible because they also work for other non-organic producers. So, in short: no, we are not officially certified, but the quality and way of working are at least just as good.
Single Origin means that a product comes from one specific place. Often, harvests from different places, sometimes even from different countries and different years, are blended together. Traders do this to develop the cheapest possible product with a consistent taste. With us, you know exactly where your spices come from, right down to the name of the farmer. This also means that the quality can sometimes vary, as it is a natural product. For example, one year may be drier than another, which can lead to a change in taste. But our farmers always strive for the highest possible taste experience, and you can taste it!
We always strive to purchase the latest harvest. Of course, it can sometimes happen that we still have some of the previous harvest in stock while the new harvest is already ready. So, we cannot always guarantee that you will receive the very latest harvest, but we do aim to do so as much as possible. On the packaging, you will find a QR code leading to a page where you can find exactly when your spices were harvested and when they were filled into the tins/pouches. With this, we aim for complete transparency in our process.
We ship to most European countries, but this will naturally involve higher shipping costs. Would you like to order from a country but are unable to? Please contact us so we can explore the options.
At Sociale Werkplaats Siza, they do their utmost to pack orders the day after they are placed. If it's busy, it might take an extra day. They don't work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so if you order on a Thursday, for example, it will take a bit longer for your package to be shipped.
Once the packages are ready, they are collected by Groene Rijders and delivered by their bike couriers in the areas they serve, or outsourced to PostNL. Depending on how busy they are, they also aim to deliver within 1 working day.
