22 May 2006

Micrococuminate

Just a snippet of dream from last night. For some reason, I was discussing micrococuminate (might have been micrococuminin) with Riley Finn, from the Buffy tv series. Neither of us knew what it was.
flicker
I'm sitting at a round table in a large cafeteria. Riley is directly across from me. Various military types, about the same age as Riley, are taking up most of the table. Someone has placed a thick newspaper on the table. I grab the topmost section, and suddenly come across micrococuminate. The article says it's a component of the spice cumin, and that it seems to act as a prostate cancer preventative. I yell, "Micrococuminate!" and get rather weird looks from the rest of the military types as I fold the article and practically shove it in Riley's face. "I guess it exists after all!"

Then I happily skip across the cafeteria, nearly tripping over a rolling metallic coatrack, and wodnering if I should have had less chocolate. Then I'm in the area of the cafeteria where people go to get their food. I'm trying to find the board that lists what the main courses will be at future meals (in my mind, it's one of the black dry erase boards where they use bright neon colors). I remember wandering all the way through, looking into cases, etc, but I never did find the menu board.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out of curiosity, I went looking to see what, if any, medicinal properties are really associated with cumin. Here's what I found:

Attributed Medicinal Properties
Cumin is stomachic, diuretic, carminative, stimulant, astringent, emmenagogic and antispasmodic. It is valuable in dyspepsia diarrhoea and hoarseness, and may relieve flatulence and colic. In the West, it is now used mainly in veterinary medicine, as a carminative, but it remains a traditional herbal remedy in the East. It is supposed to increase lactation and reduce nausea in pregnancy. It has been shown to be effective in treating carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as diarrhea, indigestion, and morning sickness. Cumin also shows promise as a natural way to increase breast size. Used in a poultice, it relieves swelling of the breast or the testicles. Cumin stimulates the appetite.


So I suppose there's a very very very very very very very very *slaps wrist* very vague connection to prostate cancer... (???) Okay, really really weird: "Be creative with cumin. Try adding this spice to your vegetables or other dishes. It may prevent the development of prostate cancer." Either this is a really weird coincidence or I heard this on a news broadcast without consciously noticing. (Yes, okay, I could add a third possibility: that I have psychic dream powers connected to healing, but that one I feel confident in rejecting) Incidentally, micrococuminate does not seem to be a real word. Nor is micrococuminin or microcumin.

Here are the real constituents of cumin:
The fruits contain 2.5 to 4% essential oil. In the essential oil, cumin aldehyde (p-isopropyl-benzaldehyde , 25 to 35%), furthermore perilla aldehyde, cumin alcohol, α- and β-pinene (21%), dipentene, p-cymene and β-phellandrene were found.

In toasted cumin fruits, a large number of pyrazines has been identified as flavour compounds. Besides pyrazine and various alkyl derivatives (particularly, 2,5- and 2,6-dimethyl pyrazine), 2-alkoxy-3-alkylpyrazines seem to be the key compounds (2-ethoxy-3-isopropyl pyrazine, 2-methoxy-3-sec-butyl pyrazine, 2-methoxy-3-methyl pyrazine). Also a sulfur compound, 2-methylthio-3-isopropyl pyrazine, was found.

No comments: