Burlap & Barrel: the cumin that led to a spice company.

Ethan Frisch was working for a nonprofit in Afghanistan when he started bringing wild cumin home for friends in the restaurant business. Burlap & Barrel's account of its beginnings traces the company to those seeds and the people harvesting them. Frisch and Ori Zohar launched the business in 2016, then built sourcing relationships in Zanzibar and Guatemala. Burlap & Barrel / Founding story

What is Wild Mountain Cumin?

The Wild Mountain Cumin product page names Badakhshan, Afghanistan, as its origin. The seeds are hand-picked in the Hindu Kush mountains and sun-dried. The company also identifies this spice as botanically distinct from common cumin. Burlap & Barrel / Wild Mountain Cumin

What single origin means to Burlap & Barrel

In its FAQ, Burlap & Barrel defines single origin as a spice traceable to one farm or cooperative. The company says it works with farmers who can become direct exporters of their crops, and connects them with home cooks and professional chefs in the United States. Burlap & Barrel / Single-origin sourcing

Buying commitments and processing

The company's About page describes purchase commitments for growers and support for sorting, grinding and packaging at the source. It presents those arrangements as ways to keep more of the work and earnings with farmers. Burlap & Barrel / Working with growers