I was in an Indian/Pakistani grocery today,
buying cardamom and anything else unfamilar.
I picked up kala jeera and takmaria, having
no idea what they were. Takmaria turns out
to be basil seeds, with which I am already
familar (so that was a waste of a little money).
Kala jeera is black cumin, which is completely
different from regular cumin, so that might
be a learning experience.

But what really caught my eye was esphand.
It's some kind of seed, but the package was
marked INEDIBLE or NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
or something like that. It was rather expensive,
about $2.99 for a 4-ounce bag, so I resisted
buying it.

That's just as well. It is not really a
culinary spice.

http://www.luckymojo.com/aspand.html

In the past, I've accidently bought herbs
and spices that were not intended for
culinary uses, so I've learned not to
automatically buy anything I'm unfamiliar
with. The reetha incident comes to mind.
They were some sort of dried fruit or
something, which gave me and my friend
an instant sore throat upon sampling it.
I later found it was intended that you
soak the things in water, and then wash
your hair in the water.

I wish these ethnic grocery stores would
shelve the culinary spices separately
from the folk medicines and other non-food
spices. I sent an e-mail to the management
of a small local chain of Mexican food
stores about this, but never heard back
from them nor did they change their shelving.
Some of their folk medicines can be dangerous
if used inappropriately.