Last year I wondered if I could grow some caraway (carum carvi)  and get enough seeds to make a couple of loaves of our favourite light rye bread.  I bought two tiny plants which I found in a nursery.

They didn’t do much, so I put them in the cold frame through the winter and this spring they are growing quite quickly.  As you can see it looks a bit like coriander, or even carrots growing with feathery leaves.

Yesterday I finally looked up how to grow it and discovered that caraway is a biennual so will take two years to produce seed, so this year should be the one!  I might just have to put it in bigger pots as it’s growing furiously now – I don’t think it’s keen on being transplanted but I will take a chance.

You can use caraway seeds in lots of different recipes. It is a love-it or hate-it taste!

I like them with baby carrots, scrubbed but not peeled with the tops cut down to about a quarter of an inch, parboiled whole and  then finished by cooking in a butter and brown sugar glaze put together with a little fresh lemon juice and caraway seeds. Lemon juice does something magical to carrots, makes them taste more carroty somehow…..

Carrots taste better steamed or boiled whole. I have no idea why!

If the plants set seed I will try and grow some new ones.  In theory they should self sow around the garden, like borage does. We’ll see!

Next post : Rustic Bread!