Caraway

Look at caraway before you smell it. Good seeds are dark, slim, curved like tiny crescents, with pale ridges running down each side. Crush one between your fingers — it should crack, not crumble to dust, and the smell that comes up should be sharp, a little peppery, a little like anise, with a warm edge underneath. If there's no smell at all, the seed is old. Put it back.

Now, why does it behave the way it does in the pot? Whole caraway keeps its aroma locked away — that's why it can sit quietly in a stew for an hour and still taste sharp when you bite into one. Crush the seeds and the smell hits you at once, but it also fades fast. So crush only what you'll use today.

Some people say caraway and cumin are the same thing, just different names in different countries. No! They come from different plants entirely, they smell different, and they cook differently. Swap one for the other and your rye bread ends up smelling like a taco, or your goulash loses that clean, cool bite caraway is supposed to give it. Know your seed before it goes in the pot.