Ajwain Extract (Carom Seed)

Ajwain, also sold as carom, ajowan or bishop's weed, is the dried mature fruit of Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague ex Turrill (Apiaceae) - a plant that still appears in older literature and older supply contracts as Carum copticum, Ammi copticum or Sison ammi. Its defining constituent is thymol (CAS 89-83-8, C10H14O, MW 150.22), a white crystalline phenol melting at 49-51 C, which gives ajwain its thyme-like character. Hydrodistillation of the fruit yields an essential oil made up primarily of thymol with gamma-terpinene, p-cymene and more than twenty trace compounds, predominantly terpenoids. Thovek supplies the extract in two families. Native ratio powders at 4:1 and 10:1 are water or ethanol-water extracts dried onto maize maltodextrin. Thymol-standardised grades are assayed at 2.0%, 5.0% or 10.0% thymol by GC-FID or HPLC against a thymol reference standard, with the method printed on the certificate, because GC and HPLC figures for a volatile phenol do not always agree and a buyer comparing two suppliers on the number alone is comparing nothing. Every lot carries an HPTLC or GC fingerprint against authenticated T. ammi, ICP-MS heavy metals, full microbiology, EU MRL pesticide screening and ICH Q3C Class 3 residual solvent limits. That identity test is an allergen control as much as a quality control, and it is the point buyers most often miss. Ajwain fruit is routinely confused with lovage seed, and in South Asian trade with radhuni or ajmod (Psammogeton involucratus, carried in older literature as Trachyspermum roxburghianum) - and radhuni is itself frequently confused with, or substituted by, celery seed. Celery is a declarable allergen under EU Regulation 1169/2011 Annex II, so a substituted lot is a labelling failure and a recall exposure, not merely a quality deviation. Ajwain itself is not declarable in the EU or the US. The powder is vegan and vegetarian, free of dairy, egg, fish, crustacean, soy and nut input, and gluten-free on a maize-derived carrier. Thovek supplies to specification and makes no health claim; substantiation rests with the brand in its own market.