Add A Little Spice To Your Life!

Enliven Your Spice Rack With A New Burst Of Flavor

Ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg are staple spices in my pantry. I couldn’t creatively cook without their bit of added zest and flavor. However, I am “head-over-heels” in love with cardamom and find myself experimenting with a variety of recipes, either adding cardamom or substituting cardamom for other flavors.

What Is Cardamom?

An aromatic spice in the plant family Ginger (Zingiberaceae), cardamom is an integral ingredient in the cultural cuisine of India and Malaysia. Cardamom adds flavor, pairing well with lentils, beans, rice, poultry and red meat. Much like cinnamon or nutmeg, cardamom is a warm spice, complaints, soups, stews, slaws, and curries.

Used in both sweet and savory dishes, Cardamom pairs well with many fruits including plums, pears, and apples. I crumble a mixture of brown sugar, cardamom and butter over the top of banana bread before baking. The sugary topping is delicious.

Cardamom is marketed as whole seed pods, shelled whole seeds, or in a pulverized or powdered form.

Queen Of Spices - A Catalyst For Romance

Native to India and tropical Asia, cardamom gained favor in Egypt over 6,000 years ago. By 100 A.D., Rome was trading with India for hefty shiploads of the exotic spice. The wealthier citizens of Rome were clamoring for cardamom. Prized for their aphrodisiac properties, generous amounts of dried white cardamom seeds were crushed and added to love potions and mulled wines. The crunchy seeds were also chewed to stave off halitosis. History does not clarify cardamom’s contribution to those famous Roman orgies, but from all accounts, it certainly contributed to lower inhibitions.

Cardamom is more than just a catalyst for romance. Over the centuries, cardamom has become an integral spice in the cuisine of cultures around the world. Today, true cardamom, known as the “Queen of Spices,” is commercially cultivated in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Cambodia, Laos, Tanzania, Mexico, and many parts of Central and South America.

India produces 80 percent of the world’s annual crop of cardamom, with the majority of the harvest consumed within the country. In India, cardamom is a primary spice in savory curries and sweet cakes.

Because it enhances so many different types of food, cardamom is also widely used in Arabic, Middle Eastern and Scandinavian cuisine.

Grains of Paradise

Cardamom, also known as “Grains of Paradise,” true cardamom, white cardamom, or green cardamom, is the seed of Elettaria cardamomum, an aromatic, herbaceous perennial that is part of the ginger plant family Zingiberaceae. A bushy, low-growing plant, cardamom thrives under the moist, cool shade of tropical forest canopies, growing best in a nutrient-rich, loamy soil. An abundant profusion of creamy white flowers with deep pink veining display on long green stalks. Each flower produces a three-sided elongated fruit pod. Each pod contains from 12-to-20 seeds.

The pods are hand-picked at maturity and carefully dried. Pods, dried in the shade, e retain a dull greenish color and are the most expensive. Oven-dried pods are brown. Pods dried in the sun are bleached white. Dried pods are then gently hand-squeezed to release the seeds.

Approximately 15 to 20 seeds are required to produce a 1/8 of a teaspoon of ground cardamom. The laborious and time-consuming cultivation and harvesting process make organically grown cardamom one of the highest priced spices in the world. Pungent, sweet, and smoky with a subtle lemony undertone, the unique flavor of fresh ground cardamom is exquisite and well worth the price.

Fortunately, cardamom is intensely aromatic. Only a pinch is required to impart a wealth of flavor.

Cardamom is quite expensive. Not only is the gathering and drying process hard work and tedious, it takes more than three years until a newly planted cardamom plant bears fruit or pods. Although you can purchase ground cardamom, the most intense and truest flavor is obtained by purchasing the seeds and grinding your own with a mortar and pedestal.

Black cardamom, also known as brown cardamom, Java cardamom, or Bengal cardamom, is the seed of Amomum genera, a related species that produces a similar tasting seed used for culinary and medicinal purposes. Chefs discount black cardamom, claiming the black pods lacking in zest. Coinsurers consider black cardamom an inferior substitute for true cardamom. Black cardamom is distributed primarily in Australia and Asia.