Indian homes cannot cook food without spices. There are some spices which are very common and are used while cooking. Cumin is such a spice present in a kitchen, which is used in many other things from making lentils and vegetables. It is one of the important and frequently used ingredients to spice up Indian food.

It helps in digestion and is also used as a medicinal plant. Cumin has a distinctive taste and aroma, due to which they are widely used as a spice globally. This is the reason why it is also highly adulterated.

Artificial colours and chalk powders are often mixed with this spice, which may improve its quantity and colour, but they have serious health effects.

Common adulteration of spices is sand, clay, artificial colour, starch, chalk powder, stone, sawdust, lead chromate etc. It is a bit difficult to detect adulteration of spices at home, but you can easily test it at home.

1. Find out how to detect charcoal dust

If you want to detect charcoal dust, try this method at home. For this, put 1 teaspoon of cumin powder or whole cumin seeds in a glass of water and keep it. Let it remain like this for some 20-25 minutes. If there is dust or grass in it, it will start to float on top. Nice and pure cumin seeds will settle on the bottom.

2. How to know about artificial colour

Sometimes cumin is coated with artificial colour. It is coated with such colours that it looks like cumin. But you can also detect such adulteration. For this, mash whole cumin seeds and their powder in your hand and see. If your fingers have a black or other brown colour, then it is an adulteration.

3. How to know cumin and plain fennel

Do you know that sometimes plain fennel is also added to increase the number of cumin seeds? It is also very easy to detect, but for this, you should know the difference between the two. Many times the slight taste of fennel tells this. Take cumin seeds in your hands and watch them thoroughly and then they can be detected.

Now you too can differentiate between real and fake cumin by trying these methods. If you come across any such adulteration, immediately remove it from your kitchen and take care of your health and taste.

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DISCLAIMER

Your skin and body are different just like you. We endeavour to bring you accurate, safe and expertly verified information through our articles and social media handles but still consult your doctor before trying any home remedy, hack or fitness tip.