Caraway

Caraway

Scientific Name: Carum carvi

Native to: Europe, Asia, and North Africa

Part Used: Seed

In a word: Gas Plant

Uses: Gets food moving and thereby prevents gas formation

Whether having a prodigious amount of gas is a symptom of good or bad gastrointestinal health is a matter of debate. Most would agree, though, that it is something you would rather not have on your wedding day or on a long car trip with business associates. Still, intestinal gas is a natural phenomenon and an entirely predictable part of digestion.

First, we swallow a lot of air in chewing and swallowing food. Second, as the food molecules are broken down into absorbable particles, they release gas, and this gas has to go somewhere. If it didn’t, you would literally explode, and that wouldn’t be pretty. As much as we don’t like to pass gas, particularly while giving a speech or riding in a crowded elevator, we all do. When you stop producing gas, you are dead.

The average person passes gas 20 times per day. It is true, however, that some people seem to produce more gas than others. Beyond this, the quality of gas produced varies. In the case of these misbegots, we herbalists keep something in the medicine cabinet to end their shame. The plant in question is called caraway, and its seed has been used since time immemorial to reduce the overproduction of gas.

 In times past, foods known to create a lot of gas were always served with caraway to keep the problem from getting out of hand.

Caraway is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, though the plant has been carried by colonials to all parts of the globe. It was well known to the ancient Arabians and had made its way across the English Channel well before the 14^th century. In German domestic medicine, it was known as cummich, and its use dates at least to the 13^th century. Caraway gets its name from Caria, a town in Asia Minor that was probably once a major production center for the herb.

Julius Caesar’s troops are said to have ground the roots of the plant to make bread, and Dioscorides mentions its use in improving the complexions of young women. On the Asian front, caraway grows wild in the region of Labul in the western Himalayas. The seed is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat the condition we are working with here. A distilled water made from the seed, ajowan-ka-arrak, is sold in the markets for people who produce too much gas. The Asian Indians have found that caraway is also extremely useful in treating people who suffer from nervousness. There is indeed a link between emotional upsets and gas attacks, and if you are prone to nervous gas, take note of the Indian use. In addition, the Ayurvedics use caraway to treat any other digestive problems, from cramps to poor digestion. Flatulence, flatulent colic, atonic dyspepsia, and diarrhea are all dosed with teas made of caraway seed. The Asian Indians state very specifically in their medical texts that caraway is ideal for people with irregular diets and gas. That would include most of us, I would say. Though we are using it here specifically for gas, its reported effectiveness as a digestive strengthener makes for a pleasant bonus.

In England from the Middle Ages onward, caraway has been used for gas. Parkinson, an English herbalist, said, "The seed is much used to be put among baked fruit, or into cakes, etc., to give them relish. It is also made into comfits and taken for cold or wind in the body, which are also served to the table with fruit." The old belief was that gas was caused by wind trapped in the body, and the English felt that chewing a little caraway seed would help the trapped wind find freedom. There was a custom of serving caraway with traditionally gas-producing foods such as apples. In Shakespeare’s classic Henry IV, Squire Shallow offers Falstaff a plate of apples and caraway seed. How considerate of him!

In the British Isles, caraway was even thought to have magical powers. It was said to keep things from getting lost. A pen rubbed with caraway seed would never leave its owner, or so people believed. This was equally true of a spouse or pigeon; neither would end up in the wrong bed or roost after a rub-down with caraway. 

The generations that came before us knew what they were doing. Foods known to create a lot of gas were always served with caraway to keep the problem from getting out of hand. Cabbage is well known for its windy nature. The Germans cook cabbage with caraway seed to lessen the potential offense. The two groups most famous for a cabbage-heavy diet, the Russians and the Germans, both make a liqueur called Kummel to be served after a repast of sauerkraut. Bearing in mind how much cabbage is consumed in that corner of the planet, this may be the best after-dinner drink for all concerned.

Caraway is a member of the highly medicinal Umbelliferae family, which also includes dill, anise, and fennel. All are what we call carminatives, herbs used to reduce the production of gas. The part of caraway used in medicine is the seed. The plant produces lots of them. All the gardener needs to do is collect the seeds in July. They can also be found in the spice section of almost any grocery store.

The seeds are rich in both medicinal and aromatic substances. If you crush a handful of seeds, you will smell what I mean. The aromatic oils contain carvone, limonene, dihydrocarvone, carveol, dihydrocarveol, pinen, and thujone, to name just a few. Other chemicals contained in the plant are flavonoids, polysaccharides, proteins, and fixed oils. Caraway’s chemical content makes it an effective treatment for many illnesses. It is used to soothe muscle spasms, clear the respiratory tract of congestion, regulate menstruation, increase the flow of milk in nursing mothers, and, last but not least, kill bacteria that cause illness. Caraway is very much an all-purpose plant, but for our purposes, we will concentrate on its use in the de-gassing department.

Gerard had this to say about caraway: “The seeds, confected, or made with sugar into comfits, are very good for the stomacke, they help digestion, provoke urine, asswage and dissolve all windinesse. The seed wasteth and consumeth winde, and is good against belchings and upbraidings of the stomacke, allaythe gripings of the belly, and stirreth up bodily lust.”  Not only will caraway take your gas away, it will also get you all worked up for some matrimonial bliss. As you know, there is nothing sexy about having gas.

On the scientific front, caraway has been proven to have carminative, stomachic, antibacterial, antilarvicidal, antispasmodic, and antihistaminic properties in clinical trials. Commercially speaking, caraway can be found in indigestion, constipation, and gas remedies. Additionally, the little seeds are used to flavour drugs to mask nasty-tasting chemicals, and to scent cosmetics, toothpastes, soaps, creams, lotions, and perfumes. Caraway is widely used in commercial food preparations, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ruled that it is "generally food safe."

Practitioner’s Advice

If you would like to get rid of your "trapped wind," you can use the herb preventively by having caraway tincture before meals or correctively by having it after dinner or any time you realize that you are in trouble.  The only other advice a herbalist can give is that some foods are windier than others. The entire cabbage family, which includes radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, turnips, rutabagas, collards, kale, and mustard greens, will cause gas, but not in all people. This is a highly individual thing. Beans, of course, are equally noted for whipping the gales about. Once again, common sense should prevail; if a particular food gives you gas, and you don’t like being known as the human oil rig, don’t eat it.

QUICK REVIEW

History: Used to reduce flatulence since Roman times

Science: Speeds movement of food through gut

Practitioners opinion: Reduces flatulence when digestion is sluggish

Directions: Tincture (1:5, 45% alcohol): 5ml after meals