FAMILY · FAITH & WELLNESS

My Grandmother Passed the Black Seed Spoon Around the Table. My Kids Ran From It. Here's How the Sunnah Came Back to Our Mornings.

No bitter spoon, no second-guessing the gelatin on the label. One mother's story of bringing habba sawda back into a busy family routine, two honey-date gummies at a time.

By Amina R., mother of three · Updated Oct 2026

In my Nani's kitchen there was always a small dark bottle on the shelf next to the honey. Every morning after Fajr she would pour a little black seed oil onto a spoon and pass it around the table. My uncles took it without a word. My cousins and I pulled faces. She would just smile and say the same thing every time: 'This is sunnah. You'll thank me one day.'

She was right, of course. I grew up, got married, had three children of my own, and one day I realized I wanted that spoon back on our table. Not because of anything dramatic. Because I wanted my children to grow up with the same small, steady habits I grew up with. The ones that make a home feel like a Muslim home.

So I bought a bottle of black seed oil. Then another. Then a third.

Three bottles, all half full at the back of the cupboard

Let me be honest, because I think a lot of mothers will recognize this. The first morning, my eldest took the spoon and gagged. My middle one refused to come to the table. My youngest cried. By the end of the week it was just me, alone, forcing down a spoonful that tasted like burnt pepper and engine oil.

By week three the bottle had moved to the back of the cupboard, behind the spices. I bought a different brand, thinking maybe the first one was bad. Same story. And a third. I have since read that thousands of buyers describe black seed oil the same way: extremely bitter. I wasn't imagining it.

For a long time I blamed myself. I thought I wasn't disciplined enough, that my Nani had more patience, that my kids were just picky. I told myself I'd try again after Ramadan, after the school term, after things calmed down. Things never calm down with three kids.

It wasn't the habit that was failing. It was the spoon.

Then the gummy aisle made it worse

A friend suggested gummies. Everyone likes a gummy, problem solved, right? I went to the store and started turning jars over. Gelatin. Gelatin. Gelatin. And not one of them could tell me where the gelatin came from.

I stood in that aisle reading every label twice, the way so many of us do, and walked out with nothing. I wasn't going to bring something into my home that I wasn't at peace about. Not for my children.

What I finally found

A sister at our masjid mentioned Olyra Habba Sawda Gummies after the Jumu'ah khutbah one Friday. She had a jar in her handbag and gave me one on the spot. Honey, date, and no bitterness at all. I almost cried in the parking lot.

That evening I read everything on the jar and the website. This is what put my heart at ease:

• Made with fruit pectin instead of gelatin. No bovine, no porcine gelatin, nothing to second-guess.
• 500 mg of cold-pressed black seed oil in every 2-gummy serving, written clearly on the label.
• Thymoquinone tested in every batch, so the jar opened in Ramadan matches the jar opened in summer.
• Honey and date flavor, two tastes every Muslim kitchen already knows, and no bitter oily aftertaste.
• Designed to support immune health and provide antioxidant support, as part of a daily routine.†
• Made for Muslim families. The team answered my questions about the ingredients within a day.

How the ritual came back, week by week

This is our family's story. Every home is different.*

Week 1. The jar went next to my prayer mat. After Fajr: a glass of water, two gummies. No spoon, no faces. My husband joined me on the second morning. On the third, my eldest, eleven now, came down early just to sit with us and pour our water. I could hear my Nani laughing.

Weeks 2 to 4. It became automatic. The jar moved to the kitchen table next to the dates, and the children started reminding me. One jar is 60 gummies, a full month for one person, so we quickly needed more than one jar.

Months 2 and 3. Steady daily support for immune health through the change of seasons, morning after morning.†* For me the real change was simpler: for the first time since I was a girl, the sunnah habit actually stuck in our house.

Ramadan. This was the real test. Suhoor at 4 a.m. is always rushed and I used to forget the oil every single time. This year it was dates, water, two gummies. It tastes good at 4 a.m., which is saying something.

My Nani passed the spoon around the table. Now my daughter brings the jar to our table. The tradition didn't change. Only the spoon did.

The gifts that made it feel complete

When I ordered the 3-jar bundle, a natural miswak came with it, so two sunnah habits started in our home the same week. When I came back for the 6-jar bundle, it also included the Morning Duas Card: the duas of the morning in Arabic, transliteration and English. It sits right next to the jar on our kitchen counter now, and the children are learning them one by one.

I split my second 6-jar order with my parents and my in-laws for Eid. My mother keeps the duas card on her counter too. My father called to ask where to order more.

If you've been meaning to bring the sunnah back

I don't think I'm the only mother who has stood in front of a half-full bottle of black seed oil and felt a little guilty. If that sounds familiar, here is what I'd say: the habit was never the problem. Make it easy, make it something the whole house looks forward to, and make it something you're at peace about. Then it stays.

And there's a 90-day money-back guarantee, so there is nothing to lose by trying. One honest note: the free-gift bundles are a launch offer, and I don't know how long they'll last. I'd check now.

About the authorAmina is a mother of three in New Jersey. She writes about keeping family traditions alive in busy mornings, one small habit at a time.

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†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. *Individual results may vary.