Is nigella oil (black cumin or black caraway) aromatic?

I bought a bottle some time ago and wanted to share my experience. The nigella oil has turned out to be one of my favorite oils. I don't have any other like it.

It has a very strong aroma, more similar to fresh carrot than to black caraway seeds. It is slightly bitter, and also slightly hot. The hotness is weak when compared to most hot spices, but it is there. The bitterness is very pleasant. It doesn't have the fatty, clingy quality of flaxseed oil bitterness (and has no fish taste at all). All in all, it is a very green, fresh taste, more like a herb than like an oil. "Robust" style olive oils taste this way, but the nigella oil is much stronger.

It is too strong for combinations, but it is easily made the main star of many dishes. Frying an omelette in it completely changes the taste, no need for other spices at all (it does get more bitter at low frying temperatures, but does not lose the strongest part of the flavor, just the overtones). It is also very good for dipping a rustic bread. It is also economical in the sense that a little bit of it goes a long way (using too much of it makes it really overwhelming). Conclusion: a great thing to have in the kitchen.

I don't think black seed oil is for culinary use. Could be... but the cold pressed natural oil taste and smells like turpentine!

It is a very strong oil. It is sometimes labeled as "black seed oil" - note that it is not caraway seed oil or onion seed oil at all. I bought it as a health supplement and I HATED the taste at first, but stuck with it. I am now in a toleration phase and hopefully will develop, if not a liking for, at least a passing acceptance.I will use the entire 16oz bottle and then evaluate further use.

It does indeed smell and taste like terpentine, this was confirmed by the specialists that were selling it to be normal (at first I thought it was not cold-pressed but rather terpentine-extracted, so asked additionally therefore)

Someone sent me two bottles to try. I took 2 teaspoons immediately, and was horrified. It had a strong terpentinue / kerosene flavor / odor and burned my throat going down. I was really, really scared.. and I had some activated charcoal on hand in capsule form, so I took 5 of those, just in case what I had just injested was toxic. What I got is intended as a health supplement and i had fears that it was tainted in some way. The smell is definitely "fuel-like"... so I got online to look it up and found SO many others who had said the same thing. The only explanation I have found is by a doctor on facebook who says he sent it off to a mass spectrometer to be analysed after getting multiple complaints and they said it was nothing but the plant material. He said that the odor is coming from the seeds themselves. Not sure if I will ingest any more before i do some more reading.

It has a very strong kerosene fuel smell and taste that lingers in the mouth, and gives some burning sensation going down the throat. Not a pleasant taste at all but I take it for the various health benefits.

To me it tastes like really strong parsley...….

If your Black Seed Oil tastes or smells like Kerosene or turpentine, you have purchased low quality and/or OLD oil which has most likely had hexane added to it! Return it & get your money back! DON'T buy your BSO from unknown or disreputable sources, such as random sellers on Amazon. You are sure to end up with a low-quality and/or out of date product which has had hexane added to it, thus smelling and/or tasting of fuel. FRESH, HIGH-QUALITY BSO is golden-brown in color and has a strong HERBAL smell/taste... Wonderful for cooking, consumption, skincare & haircare.