{{Short description|Sweet liqueur flavored with caraway, cumin, and fennel seeds}} {{Italic title}} {{other uses|Kümmel (disambiguation)}} thumb|upright|''Kaiser-Kümmel'' by J. A. Gilka {{wiktionary | kummel}}
'''''Kümmel''''', '''''kummel''''' or '''''kimmel''''' ({{langx |lv|ķimelis}}), is a sweet, colourless liqueur flavoured with caraway ({{langx |de| Kümmel}}, {{langx |lv|ķimenes}}) seeds, cumin and fennel.
Kümmel was first distilled in the Netherlands in the late 17th century; by 1823 the product had been adopted in the German lands (Germany would become {{as of | 2019 | lc = on}} the principal producer and market){{citation needed|date=December 2024}}, and in then Russian-ruled Latvia,<ref> Compare: {{cite book |last1 = Stailey |first1 = Doug |editor-last1 = Wondrich |editor-first1 = David |editor-last2 = Rothbaum |editor-first2 = Noah |date = 20 October 2021 |chapter = kümmel |title = The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A4lNEAAAQBAJ |location = New York |publisher = Oxford University Press |page = 409 |isbn = 9780199311132 |access-date = 5 December 2024 |quote = kümmel is an herbal liqueur of southern Baltic origin, primarily flavored with caraway seed. [...] a recipe for doppel-kümmel shows up in a German distillers' manual in 1823. In that year, Wilhelm Von Blanckenhagen (1761– 1840) commenced commercial production in Allasch, then a Baltic-German region in Latvia. Van [sic] Blanckenhagen's Allasch Kümmel, thick with sugar and 40 percent ABV, achieved international recognition at the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1830. }} </ref> becoming known in many markets as "Blanckenhagen-Allasch"<ref> {{Cite news | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iVIsAQAAMAAJ | year = 1998 | issn = ((0264-4794))<!--Searching Google Books for the scanned ISSN confirms the ISSN is printed as written on more than 1 page, even though ISSN has incorrect checksum digit. If searching by ISSN, then 0264-4797 is the correct ISSN issued to "Wine & spirit."--> | publisher = Evro Publishing Company | location = London | access-date = 5 December 2024 | page= 25 | quote = [...] Kummel (known in many parts of the world as Blanckenhagen-Allasch) competing in the high strength herbal liqueur arena. | title = Wine & Spirit International }} </ref> from its Latvian connections. Eastern Europe became {{as of | 2007 | lc = on}} the principal producer and market of kümmel.<ref> Compare: {{cite book |last1 = Rathbun |first1 = A.J. |author-link1 = A.J. Rathbun |date = 12 September 2007 |title = Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iju39fbtnI4C |location = Boston, Massachusetts |publisher = The Harvard Common Press |page = 133 |isbn = 9781558323360 |access-date = 19 December 2024 |quote = [Kümmel] remains very popular in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe, where the majority of kümmel is both produced and consumed. }} </ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}}
== History == ===Origin=== The earliest known kümmel recipe, attributed to a knight of the Livonian Order, dates from 1503.<ref> {{cite book |year = 2016 |title = Kulinarnaya entsiklopediya |trans-title = Culinary encyclopedia |script-title = ru:Кулинарная энциклопедия |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NNQkDwAAQBAJ |language = ru |volume = 16. К-Л (Куллама - Лакрица) |location = Moscow |publisher = Komsomolskaya Pravda |page = 98 |isbn = 9785447001032 |access-date = 9 January 2025 |script-quote = ru:КЮММЕЛЬ [...] Первое упоминание о её рецепте датируется 1503 годом, записан он был неким рыцарем Ливонского ордена. }} </ref> Some accounts record the legend<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Rathbun |first1 = A.J. |author-link1 = A.J. Rathbun |date = 12 September 2007 |title = Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iju39fbtnI4C |location = Boston, Massachusetts |publisher = The Harvard Common Press |page = 133 |isbn = 9781558323360 |access-date = 12 December 2024 |quote = A slightly sweet liqueur, known for its caraway, cumin, and fennel flavor combination, kümmel, Dutch legend says, was first created and distilled by Erven [the heirs of] Lucas Bols in 1575 in Holland. }} </ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}} that Lucas Bols (1652-1719)<ref> {{cite book|last1= Rendell|first1= Mike|date= 5 January 2023|chapter= The Advent of Distilling|title= A Dark History of Gin|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4VCjEAAAQBAJ|location= Barnsley, Yorkshire|publisher= Pen and Sword History|page= 19|isbn= 9781399070546|access-date= 12 December 2024|quote= Lucas Bols was born in 1652, the grandson of the founder, and he oversaw a rapid expansion of the company during his country's Golden Age. He died in 1719.}}</ref> first distilled ''kümmel'' liqueur in the Netherlands in 1575 - three quarters of a century before he was born.<ref> {{cite book |last= Calabrese |first= Salvatore |title= Complete Home Bartender's Guide |publisher= Sterling Publishing |year= 2002 |location= |url= https://archive.org/details/completehomebart0000cala |url-access= registration |doi= |id= |isbn= 0-8069-8511-9 |page= [https://archive.org/details/completehomebart0000cala/page/192 192] | quote = According to historians, the first liqueur was a preparation made from caraway (called kummel), and distilled in 1575 by Lucas Bols in Holland. Bols knew that caraway was good for the digestive system, and he hoped that it would be popular when combined with the anesthetic effect of alcohol.}} </ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}
=== Spread === Persistent stories associate the popularity of kümmel ({{langx | ru | кюммель}}) in Russia with the tastes of a man with a reputation for imbibing:<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Andreas |first1 = Peter |author-link1 = Peter Andreas |date = 17 January 2022 |orig-date = 2019 |chapter = Drunk on the Front |title = Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vGANEQAAQBAJ |location = New York |publisher = Oxford University Press |page = 38 |isbn = 9780197629994 |access-date = 9 January 2025 |quote = Heavy drinking became embedded in Russian military culture. Drinking while soldiering was encouraged from the very top. In the early eighteenth century, Peter the Great - a heavy drinker himself (reportedly drinking between thirty and forty glasses of wine per day) - authorized thrice-weekly vodka rations. }} </ref> Tsar Peter I of Russia.<ref> {{Cite news | last1 = Mackall | first1 = Lawton | author-link1 = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vFxXAAAAYAAJ | title = Esquire | date = August 1941 | volume = 16 | publisher = Esquire Publishing Company | page = 87 | access-date = 12 December 2024 | quote = Whether or not we swallow the Dutch claim that it was they who first perfected and polished off Kummel, teaching the taste for it to Peter the Great when he came to Holland to learn shipbuilding, the fact remains that the Low Countries were hotbeds of cordialry of the most lush and lavish sorts, and the Russian Empire founded by large-sized pupil Peter was steeped to the steppes in his pet liqueur. }} </ref>{{efn | Myths and legends about alcoholic drink abound,<ref> {{cite book |editor-last1 = Martin |editor-first1 = Scott C. |date = 16 December 2014 |title = The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R9i5BgAAQBAJ |publisher = SAGE Publications |isbn = 9781483374383 |access-date = 9 January 2025 }} </ref> and legends can confuse designations and dates. Some accounts characterise kümmel primarily as anise-water.<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Massie |first1 = Robert K. |author-link1 = Robert K. Massie |date = 18 September 2012 |orig-date = 1980 |chapter = 49: 'The King is a Mighty Man...' |title = Peter the Great: His Life and World |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k_P3nYBYn3UC |series = Modern Library |edition = reprint |location = New York |publisher = Random House Publishing Group |page = 781 |isbn = 9780679645603 |access-date = 12 December 2024 |quote = To counsel the French maîtres d'hôtel and chefs who would be preparing food for the Russian visitor, Liboy forwarded specific recommendations: 'The Tsar [...] generally drinks light beer and dark vin de nuits without liquor. [...] In the morning he drinks aniseed water [kümmel], liquors before meals, beer and wine in the afternoon. All of them fairly cold.' }} The Russian translation of Christopher Marsden's 1942 book ''Palmyra of the North: The First Days of St. Petersburg'' has: {{cite book |last1 = Марсден |first1 = Кристофер |date = 24 July 2023 |orig-date = 1942 |title = Первый век Санкт-Петербурга. Путь от государева бастиона к блистательной столице империи |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KQ_NEAAAQBAJ |language = ru |publisher = Litres |isbn = 9785045639149 |access-date = 19 December 2024 |quote = 'Утром он [Пётр I Алексеевич] пьет анисовую воду («кюммель»), спиртные напитки перед приемом пищи, пиво и вино в полдень. Все это в сильно охлажденном виде.' }} </ref> Peter I allegedly sampled the Bols product during his sojourn in Amsterdam in 1696.<ref> Compare: {{cite book |last1 = Rathbun |first1 = A.J. |author-link1 = A.J. Rathbun |date = 12 September 2007 |title = Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iju39fbtnI4C |location = Boston, Massachusetts |publisher = The Harvard Common Press |page = 133 |isbn = 9781558323360 |access-date = 19 December 2024 |quote = The liqueur's popularity in Eastern Europe leads all the way back to Peter the Great, who, in 1696, [...] is said to have traveled to Amsterdam to learn shipbuilding. While in Amsterdam, he paid a side visit to the famous Bols distillery [...]. While at the distillery, Peter tasted and fell for kümmel, and bought a few bottles - and the recipe - back to Russia with him. }} </ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2025}} - before he arrived in the Netherlands in August 1697<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Nomen |first1 = J. C. |editor-last1 = Constantine |editor-first1 = Helen |translator-last1 = Vincent |translator-first1 = Paul F. |year = 2017 |chapter = Peter the Great Works as a Ship's Carpenter (1697) |title = Amsterdam Tales |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9DooDwAAQBAJ |series = City Tales Series |publisher = Oxford University Press |page = 21 |isbn = 9780198806493 |access-date = 16 January 2025 |quote = On 25 August 1697 the Czar arrived in Amsterdam, writes a diarist from Zaandam. }} </ref> during his Grand Embassy of 1697 to 1698.<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Cracraft |first1 = James |author-link1 = James Cracraft |date = 30 June 2009 |orig-date = 2003 |chapter = Military and Naval Revolutions |title = The Revolution of Peter the Great |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6GycSO5cAD8C |publisher = Harvard University Press |page = 45 |isbn = 9780674029941 |access-date = 16 January 2025 |quote = Peter's training in navigation and shipbuilding, begun during his youth in Russia, was completed in Amsterdam and London during his Grand Embassy of 1697–1698. }} </ref> }} Whether or not Peter I ({{reign | 1682 | 1725}}) first introduced kümmel to Russia, he does receive credit for organising its production there.<ref> {{cite book |year = 2016 |title = Kulinarnaya entsiklopediya |trans-title = Culinary encyclopedia |script-title = ru:Кулинарная энциклопедия |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NNQkDwAAQBAJ |language = ru |volume = 16. К-Л (Куллама - Лакрица) |location = Moscow |publisher = Komsomolskaya Pravda |page = 98 |isbn = 9785447001032 |access-date = 9 January 2025 |script-quote = ru:КЮММЕЛЬ [...] Пётр І настолько полюбил тминную настойку, что организовал её производство в России. }} </ref>
===19th century=== Kümmel's popularity grew in the early 19th century.<ref name="Curiologist">{{cite web|title=allasch - The Curiologist|url=https://curiologist.com/tag/allasch/|access-date=2019-05-10|archive-date=2019-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510214850/https://curiologist.com/tag/allasch/|url-status=dead}}</ref> being produced by 1823<ref name="Lost Ingredients">{{cite web|title=The Historians - Lost Ingredients: Kümmel|url=http://thehistorians-jaredbrown.blogspot.com/2014/06/lost-ingredients-kummel.html}}</ref>
''Allasch'' is a variety of Kümmel; it is also a caraway liqueur of around 40% ABV, usually flavoured with bitter almonds, anise, angelica root and orange peel. Invented in 1823 in Allasch, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (now {{ill|Allažmuiža|lv|vertical-align=sup}} in Latvia), and produced by Wilhelm von Blanckenhagen (1761–1840), who owned land around Allasch which included a pure and reliable water source,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leipzig-dasdorf.de/Geschichte/Spezialitaten/Spezialitaten.htm |title=Spezialitaten |website=Leipzig-dasdorf.de |access-date=2017-01-19 |archive-date=2017-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427232222/http://www.leipzig-dasdorf.de/Geschichte/Spezialitaten/Spezialitaten.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> it was widely popular and produced there until 1944 when the Soviet Union occupied Latvia and expelled ethnic Germans from the region.
In 1830, ''Allasch'' was exhibited at the Leipzig Trade Fair and quickly gained popularity, being soon produced by local distilleries. It is now considered a Leipzig specialty, usually drunk as a digestif, although there are also manufacturers outside Leipzig.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.psmberlin.de/produkte/kummel-klare/allasch |title=Allasch | Preussische Spirituosen Manufaktur |website=Psmberlin.de |access-date=2017-01-19 |archive-date=2016-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201012452/http://www.psmberlin.de/produkte/kummel-klare/allasch |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Albert Wolfschmidt founded a distillery in Riga in 1847, producing vodka and schnapps, including kümmel and Riga Black Balsam.<ref name="Lost Ingredients" />
In the mid-19th Century, ''kümmel'' was the rival of gin. Being made with caraway rather than juniper, it had the advantage that caraway has a carminative effect, reducing flatulence and the bloated feeling experienced after a heavy meal. By 1850,<ref name="Lost Ingredients" /> this "medicinal" benefit helped Ludwig Mentzendorff create a healthy business importing ''kümmel'' to Britain.
===20th century=== During the 1905 Russian Revolution,<ref name="Curiologist" /> the Blanckenhagen mansion was burned down. The distillery closed, and the entrepreneurial ''Mentzendorffs'' opened up the production of their own kümmel in France. Baltic Germans moved to Germany as tensions between Russia and Germany grew, and several distilleries in Germany produced their own versions of kümmel, where it is still known as ''Allasch'' and is a popular digestif.
thumb|140px|Leipziger Allasch
In Latvia, it is produced by Latvijas Balzams under the Latvianized name ''Allažu ķimelis''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lb.lv/en/production/allazu-kimelis/|title=Allažu ķimelis|publisher=Latvijas Balzams|language=en|access-date=2018-04-07}}</ref>
In Scotland, it is a popular drink at many of the more traditional golf clubs<ref>{{cite web |title=Kümmel: A Little of the Muirfield Spirit |last=Lyons |first= Will |date=11 July 2013 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324853704578587402768615418?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5 |publisher=Wall Street Journal}}</ref> because of its rumored ability to steady the nerves of golfers there, acquiring the nickname of "putting mixture".<ref name="Curiologist" />
A charming and evocative scene of drinking kümmel occurs in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1980 television miniseries, ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'', where the character Franz Biberkopf speaks in the voices of glasses of kümmel and three beers in a philosophical dialogue as he evaluates the taste and downs each drink in turn.
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Alcoholic drinks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kummel}} Category:Herbal liqueurs