Seeds on the Kitchen Shelf

Mustard seeds are only about 1 to 2 millimeters across, yet when they are ground and mixed with water, vinegar or other liquids they become the yellow condiment known as mustard. They come from black, brown or white mustard plants.

One plant gives two ingredients: the fresh leaves, called cilantro in the United States, and the dried seeds, the two parts most traditionally used in cooking. The page also notes that a variation in the gene OR6A2 makes some people taste the leaves as soapy.

Cardamom is made from the small black seeds inside spindle-shaped pods. Green Elettaria pods are smaller, while Amomum pods are dark brown and larger. The earliest references to the spice appear in Sumerian texts and in Ayurveda.

A single fruit of the nutmeg tree yields two spices: nutmeg from the seed and mace from the seed's covering. The Banda Islands in Maluku, Indonesia, the tree's native home, remain the main producer of both.

Sesame seeds grow in pods, and the plant is one of the oldest oilseed crops known, domesticated well over 3,000 years ago. The seeds have one of the highest oil contents of any seed, which gives them their rich, nutty flavor.

The same seed pressed for oil gives one of the earliest known crop-based oils. Oil from toasted seeds is prized for its nutty aroma and taste but may taste burnt and bitter if used for frying, while oil from raw seeds is used as an ordinary cooking oil.

Flax is grown both as a food crop and a fiber crop. Its seeds are known as flaxseed or linseed and its oil as linseed oil, while textiles made from the plant are called linen. It appears to have been domesticated just once, from the wild pale flax.

A walnut is the edible seed of a tree in the genus Juglans, though botanically it is an accessory fruit rather than a true drupe. After the fruit ripens its outer shell is discarded and the kernel inside is eaten.

The pistachio is a small to medium-sized tree of the cashew family, grown for its seeds. They go into desserts, chocolate, candy and ice cream, or are made into paste or butter. In 2024 the United States, Iran and Turkey together produced 87 percent of the world total.

The pecan is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, cultivated for its seed. The edible nut is used as a snack and in praline candy and pecan pie.