Caraway Seeds

Ever since I moved to Victoria, I've had a mild obsession that has involved a breadmaker. Megan showed me how to use the machine properly, and as I was looking through the instruction manual, I found a recipe for Irish Soda Bread. My curiosity stimulated, I set out to make this bread, only to find that the recipe calls for "caraway seeds", of which I neither had, nor ever heard of. Thus my plan to be creative in a kitchen (this is creative cooking for me, alright) was thwarted.

This was back in September. Sadly, every time I go shopping, I take a run down the baking and bulk sections looking for caraway seeds. It has become a bit frustrating, as I have no idea what caraway seeds look like, nor did I ever bother to even look them up on the 'net. So, every shopping excursion involves a 5 minute period of searching aimlessly through the aisles for a product that, as far as I knew, could have been glowing purple.

On a whim, I decided to check out an organic store near UVic. I figured they might have something like caraway seeds, since I was fairly certain they were organic, judging from the name. Organic food stores are not set up like a normal grocery store. You are forewarned. It was like stepping into a Costco for health nuts. The more I wandered looking for a baking section, the more I noticed that stuff was "organized" in such a way as to make you wander through the majority of the store. The fruits and veggies were in the near middle of the building, you had to go through the bulk foods to get to the cash registers, and the coolers were actually part of the breads and cereals aisle. Just plain odd.

Anyways, after locating the baking section, I began my ritual scanning of package labels in the attempt to find the precious treasure that I'd been searching for. However, I was unsuccessful in finding anything. At least someone who worked there decided to ask if I needed help, so I inquired about the seeds. I must have asked the right person, because she took me to an organic spice shelf, and found them right there! I was shocked; I guess there was a possibility they were a spice, but that didn't seem right to me. In any event, the amount I know about foods and cooking could fill a small thimble, so I purchased my caraway seeds and went on my merry way.

Caraway Seeds

So I made my soda bread that night in the bread machine, and I must say, it is nice to have that so-called monkey off of my back. The texture seemed right, but it is hard to say for sure, as I have never eaten "authentic" Irish soda bread. The sad part is, I didn't like the flavour of the caraway seeds. Perhaps I could use less in the next loaf, but they have a pretty aggressive flavour that stands out more than I think it should. Pretty much a let down after a few months of searching grocery stores for a single ingredient.

I think I had my horn on my face for almost 6 hours yesterday, all things told. It's going to be one hell of a semester if this pace keeps up.