Spice
Bishop's Weed
B tier
Bishop’s weed is a historical English name applied to ajwain and occasionally to unrelated umbellifers, so modern cooks must verify they have Trachyspermum ammi seeds, not Ammi species sold as ornamentals. Culinary bishop’s weed should look like miniature celery seed with a fierce thyme smell when crushed. Older British herbals and colonial kitchen manuals used the name in pickling spice lists and “stomachic” powders. In practice, treat labelled bishop’s weed as ajwain: temper, grind fresh, and dose sparingly. Avoid garden Ammi majus—pretty in borders, wrong for the pan.
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History
English herbals used bishop’s weed for several pungent umbellifer seeds including ajwain-type imports.
Victorian spice lists kept bishop’s weed as a synonym in pharmacopoeia-adjacent cookbooks.
Confusion with ornamental Ammi species made the name unreliable without origin notes.
Serious spice merchants preferred ajwain or carom over ambiguous bishop’s weed labels.