Carom seeds nutritional value per 100g: calories, protein and minerals

The table below prints the IFCT 2017 figures for ajwain — recorded in those tables as Omum — beside the figures for cumin seeds and coriander seeds, the two spices ajwain is usually measured against. Ajwain's figures: energy 358 kcal, protein 15.89 g, fat 21.11 g, carbohydrates 24.53 g and dietary fibre 20.58 g per 100 g. The minerals read calcium 1034 mg, iron 13.65 mg, magnesium 273 mg, potassium 1692 mg, zinc 5.67 mg and folate 51.79 mcg, with sodium at 28.58 mg, the lowest of the three seeds. Vitamin C prints no value, which the tables mark as below the detectable limit.

Per 100 g raw, edible portion. Composition: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN). — means not reported. These are average values for the food; the label on a pack gives the values for that product.

Carom seeds calories are 358 kcal per 100 g, but nobody eats 100 g of ajwain at once; the seed is a pinch spice. A teaspoon of ajwain (5 g) — the amount for one cup of ajwain water — gives about 18 kcal, protein 0.8 g, fat 1.1 g, carbs 1.2 g and fibre 1 g, with calcium 52 mg and iron 0.7 mg. In a cup of strained ajwain water most of the seed stays behind in the strainer, so the drink itself carries little of the seed's energy; the full method is on the how to make carom seeds water page.

At dish scale the same arithmetic holds: each ajwain laddu weighs about 35 g and comes to 172 kcal, and a serving of two ajwain rotis gives 231 kcal, about 116 kcal a roti. Every per-teaspoon and per-dish figure here scales the 100 g figures above and is rounded.

The neighbours in the table put ajwain's 15.89 g of protein and 20.58 g of fibre in context. Protein: cumin seeds carry 13.91 g and coriander seeds 10.66 g, so ajwain leads the three, with about 14 percent more protein than jeera and about 1.5 times dhania's. Fibre runs the other way: cumin's 30.35 g is about 1.5 times ajwain's, and coriander's 44.81 g is more than double. Calcium follows the protein pattern — ajwain 1034 mg, cumin 878 mg and coriander 718 mg — so ajwain carries roughly 18 percent more calcium than jeera and 44 percent more than dhania. In the smaller figures ajwain is not always ahead: cumin prints more magnesium, potassium and iron, which is why the full table above beats any single-number summary.

IFCT 2017 prints no glycemic index value for carom seeds, so no GI figure is printed for ajwain, and this page quotes no GI and no glycemic load for carom seeds. That is not a gap to fill by guesswork; it is simply a figure IFCT 2017 does not publish. What is printed, and small, is plain enough: ajwain is eaten by the pinch inside a full meal, where its carbohydrate contribution is tiny — 1.2 g of carbs in a whole teaspoon.

Calcium is the strongest figure in the table at 1034 mg per 100 g, which is why even a 5 g teaspoon carries 52 mg. Iron 13.65 mg and zinc 5.67 mg sit beside them, with folate at 51.79 mcg. A separate 2014 Food Chemistry analysis of aromatic spices put the figure at 84.95 micrograms of zinc per gram of ajwain; the same analysis found arsenic, cadmium and lead very low in the spices it tested, and its authors add that some of the minor and essential trace elements they measured make a good nutritional contribution against the recommended dietary allowance. A lab profile and a food composition table measure differently, so the two sets of figures sit side by side rather than compete.

The honest reading comes from the Opara and Chohan review of 2014: culinary herbs and spices are usually eaten in small amounts, mixed into other foods, so it is hard to say what their true health benefit is. Carom seeds are exactly that kind of food — a quarter teaspoon seasons a dal for four people, so the totals above arrive a pinch at a time. The numbers still earn their place as a way to compare seeds, which is how the table above works best. For the seed in the kitchen — tempering, paratha dough, ajwain water — the how to use carom seeds page has the quantities, the ajwain in english and hindi page lists its names, and the ajwain hub ties the cluster together.

What is carom seeds?

Carom seeds are ajwain, the seed of Trachyspermum ammi, which the Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT 2017) record as Omum under food code G029. Per 100 g the seed carries 358 kcal, 15.89 g of protein and 20.58 g of fibre. In the kitchen it is a pinch spice, used in tempering and doughs.

Is carom seeds good for health?

The nutrients are real — per 100 g, ajwain gives 358 kcal with 1034 mg of calcium and 20.58 g of fibre — but a 2014 review cautions that spices are eaten in small quantities alongside other foods, so their true health benefit is hard to pin down. Use ajwain as a flavour spice, not a medicine, and the numbers above as context.

Can carom seeds cause constipation?

None of the studies in the references links carom seeds to constipation, in either direction. The seed's fibre, 20.58 g per 100 g, shrinks to about 1 g in a teaspoon, and the seed is eaten in pinches anyway. Persistent constipation is a matter for a doctor, not for a spice jar.

Why ajwain is spicy?

Ajwain's pungency has a chemical side: a 2014 Phytotherapy Research review lists components such as thymol and carvacrol in the plant. The seed's bold, pungent flavour is what makes it a pinch spice — a little goes a long way in tempering and doughs.

Is carom seeds heat or cold?

Heat and cold are words from traditional food classification, and IFCT 2017 records neither for carom seeds. What the 2014 Phytotherapy Research review does record is a strongly flavoured seed, with thymol among its components. In the kitchen the seed is pungent, which is a taste, not a temperature.