Cumin Seeds

Cuminum cyminum L. — whole dried fruit, traded as jeera

Cumin is quoted against two purity grades — 99/1 machine-cleaned and 99.5/0.5 sortex — and the half-percent difference between them is a real price step, so make sure competing offers are on the same grade before comparing. Volatile oil at 2.5% minimum is what carries the aroma and matters most to blenders and distillers. Rajasthan and Gujarat together account for approximately 99% of Indian production, which makes the crop unusually exposed to weather in a single belt. Two EU ceilings to plan around: ochratoxin A at 15 µg/kg and pyrrolizidine alkaloids at 400 µg/kg — the latter catches suppliers out because it comes from weed contamination in the field, not from the cumin itself, and is therefore a sourcing and cleaning question rather than a storage one. Cumin is a light cargo: a 20ft holds roughly 11.5–12.5 MT and cubes out long before it weighs out.