Cumin is the dried seed-like fruit of Cuminum cyminum, a small annual of the carrot family whose warm, earthy, faintly bitter pungency anchors the spice cabinets of India, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. The slender, ridged brown "seeds" smell unmistakably of cumin — deep, sweaty-warm and resinous — and bloom into a nuttier, toastier aroma the moment they hit a hot dry pan.