Carum carvi
planetary ruler: Sun / Mercury
element: Air
associated deities: Sun goddesses, Saint Catherine
magical virtues: Fidelity, love, memory, protection, retention
Caraway has been used since at least the Stone Age, with seed fragments found in food remains from this time. It is mentioned several times in the Bible, though this is actually a mistranslation; many versions still use the word caraway instead of cumin, which is actually what the peoples of the Bible would have known and used.
In England caraway is associated with the cycles of sowing and reaping. Caraway Seed Cake was traditionally served in English farmhouses after wheat sowing 31 and at the harvest suppers that were held for all the workers later on in the year. Special caraway cakes called Cattern Cakes were made on Saint Catherine’s Day, November 25, and in Somerset farmers had special Cattern Pie shaped like a Catherine wheel (a pin wheel firework) and filled with mince, honey, and spices, washed down with “hot pot” made from warm beer, rum, and eggs. It is probable that Catherine was a Christianised version of an earlier goddess, represented as she is with a wheel, as were so many deities of the sun, fate, time, and the seasons. Wheels wrapped in straw and fired and rolled down hills were an ancient celebration of the sun and passage of the seasons. Use caraway in food, drink, and incenses at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, or at times of beginning new projects or their coming to fruition.
Caraway seeds were widely believed to confer the gift of retention—any object that contained them could not be stolen or lost. Caraway dough was fed to chickens, doves, and pigeons to keep them from straying. 32 In fact, birds do love it, and this would certainly be an incentive to stay; it is still sometimes given to homing pigeons. You can use Caraway Tea or Caraway Infused Oil to anoint any objects or tools that you especially value to prevent their loss and bind them to you. Use Caraway Seed Cake as ritual food to bind a group together.
The power of retention even extended to spouses and lovers, and in folklore a cake or love potion given to a partner would keep them faithful and prevent them straying, while a few seeds placed in a wandering husband’s pocket would prevent him being lured away. To ensure the fidelity of a bride and groom, guests would throw caraway seeds after the couple at the wedding. Today, hearth witches use caraway at handfastings to help couples to remain faithful, both in the ritual cup and in the cake. The rings may be consecrated with Caraway Infused Oil or incense. The couple may be served Caraway Seed Cake, but take care that no one else eats it!
However, because caraway has the power of retention, it is unlucky to give it away: there was an old saying that “you baked for me caraway bread but prepared yourself for tears.” 33 You should definitely never give it to fairies, perhaps because caraway might be seen as binding them to the giver. The moss people, German woodland fairies who spin the moss for the forests, have a particular horror of it. Though they occasionally help humans, if they are thoughtlessly rewarded with gifts of caraway bread, they screech “Caraway bread, our death!”34
Caraway seeds were also believed to offer protection. In Germany parents placed a dish of caraway seeds beneath their childrens’ beds to protect them not only from illness, but also from witches and fairies. It is said that witches themselves carried caraway seeds to protect them from an untimely death on the scaffold, while sprinkling caraway seeds on a loved one’s coffin helps stop their soul being stolen by demons. To use caraway as a herb of protection, use Caraway Tea to cleanse the ritual working area or home; seal doors and windows with Caraway Infused Oil or Caraway Tea; and add to protection incenses. Sew caraway seed into a small white bag with white thread and hide it under the mattress of a child’s crib or bed to keep the child free of illness and negativity. This also can be carried for protection by children and adults alike.
As a Mercury herb, caraway is associated with thought, memory, and communication. Use it in Mercury incense or in spells and rituals connected with communication, messages, and study. Carry a small yellow bag of caraway seeds to improve the memory.
culinary uses
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Squire Shallow invites Falstaff to “a pippin and a dish of caraways,” and the convention of serving apples with caraway continued to be a custom in England. At Trinity College, Cambridge, roast apples are still presented with a little saucer of caraway. Aromatic caraway seeds, with their mildly aniseed/ liquorice flavour, are often used in rye breads, biscuits and cakes, cheeses, soups, curries, dahl, biriyani, sauerkraut, paté, and sweets. Commercially, caraway is used as a flavouring for liqueurs such as kummel, aquavit, and schnapps. The leaves are also used for soups and stews, and the roots may be boiled and treated like cooked parsnips or carrots. Always buy the seeds whole and grind them just before use.
Please note that the so-called black caraway is actually from an entirely different plant, Nigella sativa L., and should not be confused with Carum carvi.
cosmetic uses
The antioxidants in the caraway seeds can help protect your skin and hair. You can grind some caraway seeds, mix with honey, and apply to your skin as a face pack, massaging it gently, rinsing with warm water, and following with a moisturiser. You can also use this as a treat for your hair. Leave it on for thirty minutes, then shampoo as usual.
medicinal uses
actions: anti-colitic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antispasmodic, aromatic, carminative, digestive, immunomodulatory, spasmolytic, stimulant
Caraway is related to dill, fennel, and anise and has been thought to have many of the same medicinal properties. They are all antispasmodic, carminative, and digestive herbs used to treat gas, bloating, and indigestion. In many parts of the world, a dish of caraway seeds is still served after a meal to help digestion and sweeten the breath. The Tudor Queen Elizabeth I had the following prescribed for wind: “Take ginger, cinnamon, galingale of each one ounce; aniseeds, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, of each half an ounce; mace and nutmegs two dram each; pound together and add one pound of white sugar. Use this powder after or before meat at any time. It comforteth the stomach, helpeth digestion, and expels wind greatly.” 35 The whole seeds can be chewed raw or Caraway Tea taken.
Traditionally, caraway was a remedy for infant colic, and it is still used to flavour children’s medicines. In America children were given caraway, fennel, and dill to chew during church services to stop them hiccupping, and they were dubbed the “three meetin’” seeds.
Caraway is also a good remedy for colds and chest congestion as it contains mild antihistamines, antimicrobial compounds that help to relax the muscles that cause coughing spasms. Take a cup of Caraway Tea three times a day to ease the symptoms. You can also use double-strength Caraway Tea as a gargle for laryngitis.
Caraway is useful for skin irritations, boils, and rashes. They can be washed gently with Caraway Tea or you can powder the seeds in a grinder and mix with a little warm water and apply as a poultice. The latter will also help reduce bruises.
Caution: Caraway is considered safe for most people in food amounts and for most people in medicinal amounts for up to eight weeks. To be on the safe side, medicinal amounts should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It marginally lowers blood sugar, so if you are diabetic, monitor your levels carefully. Caraway should be avoided by those with hemochromatosis, as it increases iron absorption.
Recipes
Caraway Tea
1 teaspoon seeds, lightly ground
250 millilitres (1 cup) boiling water
Pour the boiling water over the seeds and infuse for fifteen minutes. Strain and take a cup up to three times daily.
Caraway Seed Cake
110 grams (½ cup) butter
170 grams (¾ cup) castor (superfine) sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons cold milk
225 grams (1¾ cups) plain (bread) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 grams (6 tablespoons) ground almonds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Cream the butter and sugar together. Whisk the eggs with the milk, and gradually add this to the creamed butter and sugar. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then add the ground almonds and caraway seeds. Bake in a loaf tin lined with baking parchment for an hour at 160˚C/325˚F/gas mark 3.
Caraway Infused Oil
caraway seeds
vegetable oil
Grind the dried seeds (use a pestle and mortar), but don’t powder them. Put in a glass jar and cover with oil. Put on a sunny windowsill for three weeks, shaking daily. Strain the oil into a sterilised bottle. Store in a cool, dark place.
Cattern Cakes
250 grams (2 cups) self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
60 grams (1 cup) currants
60 grams (6½ tablespoons) ground almonds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
170 grams (¾ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
110 grams (½ cup) butter, melted
1 medium egg, beaten
milk for brushing
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, currants, ground almonds, caraway seeds, and sugar. Add the melted butter and beaten egg and mix well. On a floured board, roll the dough out to about 30 x 25 centimetres. Brush with milk and sprinkle on a little extra sugar and cinnamon. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and cut into 2 centimetre slices. Put them on a well-greased baking tray and bake at 200˚C/400˚F/gas mark 6 for ten to twelve minutes or until golden brown.
Anti-bloating Tea
15 grams (2½ tablespoons) caraway seeds
15 grams (2½ tablespoons) fennel seeds
15 grams (2½ tablespoons) aniseed
Crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar. They can be stored for later use in an airtight jar or tin. To use, place 2 teaspoons of the seeds in a teapot, pour on 250 millilitres (1 cup) of boiling water, and infuse for ten minutes. Pour through a strainer into a cup and drink after meals if you have a tendency to bloat after eating.
Protection Incense
½ part caraway seeds
½ part dried basil
¼ part ground black pepper
½ part cinnamon sticks, crushed
¼ part ground cloves
¼ part ginger powder
½ part dried rosemary
½ part dried thyme
Combine and burn on charcoal. If you have it, and wish to use it, you can add four parts frankincense resin, which will improve the burning quality and perfume, but this is optional and not necessary for the protective effect.
31 Grieve, A Modern Herbal.
32 Ibid.
33 Cora Linn Daniels and C. M. Stevans, eds., Encyclopædia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, volume I (University Press of the Pacific, 2003).
34 Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (Wiesbaden, 2007).
35 Quoted in Jane Lyle, A Miscellany of Women’s Wisdom (Running Press, 1993).