Carom
Sources often state that it is an aphrodisiac - but why?
Carom - also known as Bishop's Weed, Carom capticum, Carum, Yavani, Carom Seeds, Ajwain (Hindi), Ajvain, Ajwon, Ajwan, Ajowan, Ajowain, Ajvini, Javane, Ajave Seeds, Ethiopian Cumin, Carum ajowan, carum capticum, Ethiopian Cumin, Trachyspermum ammi (L.), Trachyspermum copticum (L), Ptychotis ajowan, Omum, Omam, Kummon Muluki, Kamun al-muluki, Taleb el koubs
Carom is a plant in the Umbelliferae family that is cultivated in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt - and has been in use since ancient times for its culinary and medicinal properties. [1] The seeds are similar in appearance to caraway seeds and are used as a spice reminiscent of thyme. It is highly aromatic and used often in Indian cuisine, seldom used raw - sometimes being added to curry powder, samosas and other foods. Carom is also used in Ayurvedic medicine, in particular as an anti-flatulent, but also for digestive disorders, respiratory, migraine and skin conditions. [1]
Note - Carom the plant is not to be confused with the term "carom" in the game of billiards: To carom is to richochet the ball off another ball.
Scientific analysis has revealed that the essential oil of Carom seed is around 50% thymol - which has germicidal, fungicidal and anti-spasmodic qualities. [2]
According to the wikipedia entry, 90% of India's production of Carom seed comes from the Rajasthan region. [3]
Carom - history
Dioscorides and Galen both apparently mention Carom / Ajowain, saying that is has use in medicine as a carminative. [1]
It is stated by many sources that Carom is not well known in the west. While it may have little fame, it has been listed in western encyclopedias and medicinal plant literature - Friedrich August Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury's 1879 Pharmacographia; a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India has a full entry for Carom, which includes some interesting details:
FRUCTUS AJOWAN.
Semen Ajavœ vel Ajounin ; Ajowan, True Bishop's weed.
Botanical Origin - Carum Ajowan Bentham et Hooker (Ammi copticum L. Ptychotis coptica et Pi. Ajowan DC.)—an erect annual herb, cultivated in Egypt and Persia, and especially in India where it is well known as Ajmn or Omam.
History—The minute spicy fruits of the above-named plant have been used in India from a remote period, as we may infer from their being mentioned in Sanskrit writings, as, for instance, by the grammarian Pänini, in the third century B.C. (or later ? ), and in Susruta.
Owing to their having been confounded with some other very small umbelliferous fruits, it is difficult to trace them precisely in many of the older writers on materia medica. It is however probable that they are the Ammi which Anguillara [Semplici, 1561 p.130] met with in 1549 at Venice, where it had then, exceptionally, been imported in small quantity from Alexandria. It is also, we suppose, the Ammi perpusillum of Lobel (1571), in whose time the drug was likewise imported from Egypt, as well as the Ammi alterum parvum, the seed of which Dodonaeus (1583) mentions as being " minutissimum, acre et fervidum." Dale [Pharmacologia, 1693 p.211] who says it is brought from Alexandria, reports it as very scarce in the London shops. Under the name of Ajave Seeds, the drug was again brought into notice in 1773 by Percival, [Essays, medical and experimental, 1773, ii p.226] who received a small quantity of it from Malabar as a remedy for cholic ; and still more recently, it has been favourably spoken of by Fleming, Ainslie, Roxburgh, O'Shaughnessy, Waring and other writers who have treated of Indian materia medica.
Ajowan seeds are largely imported into Europe since thymol has been universally introduced into medical practice... They have proved much more remunerative for the manufacture of thymol than Thymus vulgaris. The largest quantities, we believe, of thymol have been made from ajowan at Leipzig.
Is Carom an aphrodisiac?
It is easy to observe to see that Carom's having aphrodisiac qualities is "mentioned in passing" by a number of modern sources. It's often stated that it has use in traditional Indian herbal medicine for virility and as a cure for premature ejaculation. However, the root of these claims was a little more challenging to uncover. Noted modern writers on aphrodisiacs, such as Ray Sahelian and Chris Kilham, make no mention of Carom - and neither is it typically included in the modern crop of aphrodisiac formulas.
Digging a little deeper - Ajowan is mentioned in the appendix of the 1840 Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay as follows: "Ajowan. H. Ligusticam Ajowan. - Indigenous. More generally cultivated; sown in Asu, gathered in Vesak ; sells at twenty seers the rupee, aromatic, carminative and aphrodisiac ; whence the proverb: - Kahi ajowan, Bude ka hoga juwan. "
It's clear from this, and many similar annotated plant lists, that Ajowan, or Carom, is the subject of some legend - but the aforementioned proverb has no other mention in Google, nor even can I discover which language it is in, so this particular line of inquiry goes no further.
Fortunately, there is more. The plant is mentioned in the Ananga-ranga; the classic Hindu Art of Love - however, not as an aphrodisiac per se, but as part of a prescription for "constricting the Yoni". Sir Richard Burton and F. F. Arnototh's 1885 translation [5] states:
SIXTH PRESCRIPTION: Take 'Askhand-shoots, Chikana, Onva (or Ajvini, a kind of dill or bishop's weed), zedoary, blue lotus, costus and Vila, or Khaskhas (the grass whose roots are used as "Tatties," andropogon muricata); mix in equal parts, pound with water, and apply internally every day; the result will be very satisfactory constriction.
This is clearly not enough to warrant the reputation.
Conclusions:
For now, we're bamboozled. The research was made challenging by the huge number of alternate names the plant has. Carom has taken up enough time and space; we lack conclusions but must move on.
Another potentially interesting line of inquiry, for the researcher of aphrodisiacs, is that it's stated that Carom seed is often confused with Lovage seed. [3] Lovage had wide reputation as an aphrodisiac in old times - however, its reputation as an aphrodisiac has dwindled in modern times; it being frequently stated that the plant gained its reputation after having been received the name. However, it is yet another member of the Umbelliferae family which has been accorded aphrodisiac status. Aphrodisiac legends are dismissed out of hand - yet it is not questiond why the Umbelliferae find themselves at the center of so many stories. This would indicate grounds for further research into the Umbelliferae in general; perhaps beginning with an investigation into whether there was some common ingredient in the chemistry of the plants about which aphrodisiac claims are made.
Carom is listed in the AHPA's "Herbs of Commerce", p.146. [7]
Sources:
[1] http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Ajowain
[2] http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/ajowan.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carom_seeds
[4] http://books.google.com/books?id=Vv4aAAAAYAAJ
[7] "Herbs of Commerce" (AHPA) (2000 edition) - Michael McGuffin, John T. Kartesz, Albert Y Leung, Arthur O. Tucker p.146
Note - the information on this website is not medical advice, is not a substitute for medical consultation, has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure any disease. Please seek advice from a medical professional if you have symptoms, are concerned about your health, or before using supplements or aphrodisiac products.
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