Description
Caraway Seeds for Caraway Tea and Savoury Cooking
Caraway seeds have a warm, aromatic flavour with slightly sweet and earthy notes. They are suitable for preparing caraway tea as well as for seasoning bread, soups, vegetable dishes and many savoury recipes.
To release more of their characteristic aroma, lightly crush the seeds before use. This allows their flavour to develop more evenly in both tea infusions and cooked dishes.
Preparing caraway tea
For a simple caraway tea, pour boiling water over the lightly crushed seeds and leave them to steep with the cup or teapot covered. Covering the infusion helps preserve the delicate aromas.
The finished infusion has a pleasantly aromatic and mildly spicy taste. You can easily adjust the amount of seeds or the steeping time to suit your personal preference.
Caraway seeds in homemade tea blends
Caraway seeds combine well with fennel seeds and anise seeds, creating a balanced herbal blend with mild, aromatic flavours. Ginger, cinnamon and cardamom also complement their distinctive taste.
As their flavour is quite pronounced, a small quantity is usually enough to give a tea blend additional depth and character.
Using caraway seeds in the kitchen
Caraway seeds are traditionally used in bread, cabbage dishes, potatoes, soups, stews and savoury pastries. They also pair well with cheese dishes and spice blends.
Lightly toasting the seeds in a dry pan before cooking creates a richer aroma. Toast them only briefly to avoid excessive browning.
Caraway and black cumin
Although their names are similar, caraway and black cumin are different spices with distinct flavours. Caraway has a warm, aromatic taste, while black cumin is more nutty and peppery.
For classic caraway tea and traditional herbal tea blends, caraway seeds are the appropriate choice.
