Herb library · Spice · Carum carvi
Caraway
The crescent-shaped seed that flavors rye bread, sauerkraut and aquavit. European regulators accept caraway tea and oil for bloating on traditional grounds; the best evidence in people is for a combination capsule of caraway oil with peppermint oil.
Traditional use
Caraway has long been grown in European gardens for its seeds, which were eaten after meals for wind, and Culpeper also praised the root as a vegetable better than parsnips. Arabic physicians knew it as distinct from cumin, and in India Himalayan and imported caraway are sold as siyah-jira and vilayati-jira. Today it is sold as a tea and in oil capsules for bloating and indigestion.
What studies show
- Insufficient
Bloating and wind: the European Medicines Agency accepts caraway fruit and caraway oil only on the basis of long traditional use. Its assessment found no clinical trials of adequate quality for caraway alone.
- Limited
Functional dyspepsia (ongoing indigestion with no clear cause): a 2023 Cochrane review found moderate-certainty evidence that a peppermint oil and caraway oil combination probably improves overall symptoms compared with placebo at four weeks (3 studies, 305 people). These trials tested the combination, not caraway on its own.
- Insufficient
Breast milk supply and infant colic: LactMed says no scientifically valid trials support caraway for either, and one small, old study found no effect on milk supply.
Be careful of
Cautions
- AllergyAvoid caraway medicines if you are allergic to other plants in the carrot family (fennel, anise, celery, coriander, dill), or to mugwort or birch pollen; cross-allergy has been reported.
- ConditionEMA advises against caraway medicines for people with liver disease, gallstones, inflamed bile ducts, low stomach acid or other biliary disorders: caraway oil completely stopped gallbladder emptying in healthy volunteers.
- AmountThe oil is much stronger than the seed used in cooking. EMA's adult dose is 0.15 to 0.3 ml of oil a day; it does not recommend the oil by mouth under age 18, or caraway tea under age 12, for lack of data.
- PregnancyEMA does not recommend caraway medicines in pregnancy or breastfeeding because there are not enough data. Caraway is generally recognized as safe as a food in the US; LactMed notes heartburn, belching, wind and nausea as the usual side effects.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“Carraway confects, once only dipped in sugar, and half a spoonful of them eaten in the morning fasting, and as many after each meal, is a most admirable remedy, for those that are troubled with wind.”
“The roots of Carraways eaten as men eat parsnips, strengthen the stomachs of ancient people exceedingly, and they need not to make a whole meal of them neither, and are fit to be planted in every garden.”
Sources
- European Union herbal monograph on Carum carvi L., fructus (EMA/HMPC/715092/2013) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- European Union herbal monograph on Carum carvi L., aetheroleum (EMA/HMPC/715094/2013) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- Assessment report on Carum carvi L., fructus and Carum carvi L., aetheroleum (EMA/HMPC/715093/2013) (opens in a new tab) · EMA · read September 25, 2026
- Caraway — Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), NCBI Bookshelf (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Non-Chinese herbal medicines for functional dyspepsia (Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2023) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.