Season: Spring - Summer
Looking for a Specific Herb?
Search Our Herb Almanac Below:
|
|
|
The plant is similar in appearance to other members of the carrot family, with finely divided, feathery leaves with thread-like divisions, growing on 20–30 cm (8–12 in) stems. The main flower stem is 30–60 cm (12–24 in) tall, with small white or pink flowers in compound umbels composed of 5-16 unequal rays 1-6 cm long. Caraway fruits, informally called seeds, are smooth, crescent-shaped, laterally compressed achenes, around 3 mm (1⁄8 in) long, with five pale ridges and a distinctive pleasant smell when crushed. It flowers in June and July.
|
 |
Mature Height
24 Inches |
 |
Mature Width
18 Inches |
|
Light
Sun |
|
Water
Low |
 |
|
Uses
The fruits, usually used whole, have a pungent, anise-like flavor and aroma that comes from essential oils, mostly carvone, limonene, and anethole. Caraway is used as a spice in breads, especially rye bread. In the United States, the most common use of caraway is whole as an addition to rye bread – often called seeded rye or Jewish rye bread, where the recipe itself owes to East Slavic coriander and caraway flavored rye bread. Caraway seeds are often used in Irish soda bread and other baked goods.
Caraway may be used in desserts, liquors, casseroles, and other foods. Its leaves can be added to salads, stews, and soups, and are sometimes consumed as herbs, either raw, dried, or cooked, similar to parsley. The root is consumed as a winter root vegetable in some places, similar to parsnips.
Caraway fruits are found in diverse European cuisines and dishes, for example sauerkraut, and the United Kingdom's caraway seed cake. In Austrian cuisine it is used to season beef and, in German cuisine, pork. In Hungarian cuisine it is added to goulash, and in Norwegian cuisine and Swedish cuisine it is used for making caraway black bread. In Latvian cuisine whole caraway seeds are added to the Jāņi sour milk cheese.
Caraway oil is used to for the production of Kümmel liquor in Germany and Russia, Scandinavian akvavit, Icelandic brennivín.
Caraway can also be infused in a variety of cheeses such as havarti and bondost to add flavor.
In Oxford, where the plant appeared to have become naturalised in a meadow, the seeds were formerly offered on a tray by publicans to people who wished to disguise the odour of their drinker's breath.
|
 |
|
RECIPES
Rye Bread
PREP: 20 MINUTES BAKE: 35 MINUTES
ADDITIONAL TIME: 2 HOURS 30 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS
2 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
1 Cup Dark Rye Flour
3 Tbsp Dry Potato Flakes
2 Tbsp Caraway Seeds
1 ½ Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
2 ½ Tsp Instant Yeast
1 ½ Tsp Salt
1 Cup Warm Water
¼ Cup Canola Oil
¼ Cup Sour Pickle Juice
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Place bread flour, rye flour, potato flakes, caraway seeds, brown sugar, yeast, and sea salt in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer to low and thoroughly mix dry ingredients.
2. Mix warm water, canola oil, and pickle juice into dry ingredients.
3. Switch to the dough hook attachment and beat until dough is shaggy-looking. Cover bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for exactly 30 minutes.
4. Remove the tea towel and knead with the dough hook until smooth, firm, and only slightly sticky, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn dough onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Form dough into a ball. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with a tea towel, set into a warm place, and let rise until nearly double, about 1 hour.
6. Grease a 5”x9” loaf pan. Turn dough onto a lightly oiled surface, shape into a log, and place into the prepared loaf pan. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise until the top of the dough has risen slightly over the top of the pan, 60 to 90 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Place the loaf pan on the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake loaf in preheated oven until golden brown, about 35 minutes. If loaf browns too quickly, cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil with the shiny side out. Remove loaf from the pan and cool on a wire rack.
|
|
