Cumin is a spice with 276 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is thujene. It pairs most strongly with coriander, sharing 236 flavor compounds. Cumin appears in 7,881 recipes, most commonly in indian cuisine.
Cuminaldehyde gives distinctive warm spicy aroma. Nutty and green notes. Used globally from baklava to curry.
Compounds ranked by rarity — the higher the score, the more distinctive to this ingredient.
Of the ~226 molecules that drive perceived food aroma (Dunkel et al. 2014), Cumin's inventory contains 50. Most of the other 226 compounds are below detection threshold.
+ 38 more — showing top 12 by class and threshold.
Generalist = appears in >25% of foods (Maillard / fermentation products). Individualist = appears in <5% of foods (carries signature notes). Threshold values are in clean water — the actual perception threshold in a food matrix can differ substantially.
How Cumin's 276 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.
53 of 276 are distinctive to cumin — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.
Ordered by measured impact in cumin — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.
Ranked by median concentration across published studies. Only 3 of Cumin's 276 compounds have a measured concentration in the literature — the rest are confirmed present but not yet quantified. Bars are log-scaled.
Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.
Cumin and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.
Compare Cumin side-by-side
Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
Abstract— “Urutan” is a traditional Balinese fermented sausage prepared from pork or chicken. Information on chemical and physical characteristics of “Urutan” is important, specifi... Read abstract →
BACKGROUND: Nigella sativa (N. sativa), commonly known as black seed or black cumin, belongs to the family Ranunculaceae. It contains several phytoconstituents, Thymoquinone (TQ),... Read abstract →
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ripening rate (slow or fast), usage autochthonous starter cultures (control-spontaneous fermentation, <i>Lactiplantibacillus p... Read abstract →
A novel porous polydimethylsiloxane/bimetallic ZnCo-MOF carbonization (PDMS/ZnCo-MOF@C) sponge was successfully fabricated, followed by its utilization in GC-MS for the high effici... Read abstract →
The study aimed to explore the effect of cumin on flavor and protein oxidation of roasted lamb patties at different roasting time (10, 15 and 20 min). The results showed that the a... Read abstract →