Kümmel (liqueur)

Kümmel, also called kummel or kimmel, is a sweet, colorless liqueur flavored with caraway seed, cumin and fennel.

Kaiser-Kümmel by J. A. Gilka

According to some historians, kümmel liqueur was first distilled in the Netherlands during the late 16th century by Lucas Bols.[1] It was then taken to Germany and Russia; the former is now the principal producer and consumer of kümmel.

Kümmel's popularity grew in the early 19th Century,[2] being produced by 1823[3] in Allasch in the Russian Empire (modern Allažmuiža, Latvia), which had a German-speaking aristocracy and a sizable German minority population. Kümmel was produced by a Baltic German aristocrat, Baron von Blanckenhagen, who owned land around Allasch which included a pure and reliable water source.

In the mid-19th Century, kümmel was the rival of gin. Being made with caraway rather than juniper, it had one main advantage: caraway has a calmative effect, reducing flatulence and the bloated feeling experienced after a heavy meal. By 1850,[3] this "medicinal" benefit helped Ludwig Mentzendorff create a healthy business importing kümmel to Britain.

In 1905[2] amid the turmoil of revolutionary Russia, the Blanckenhagen mansion was burned down. The distillery closed, and the entrepreneurial Mentzendorffs opened up 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.

In the UK, it is a popular drink at many of the more traditional golf clubs.[4] Because of its rumored ability to steady the nerves of golfers there, it acquired the nickname of "putting mixture".[2]