Most Underused Spice: And the nominees are...

I love my spice cabinet. I could spend hours browsing the spice section of the local farmer’s market or Whole Foods. I especially love when I find a recipe using a spice that I rarely use. Recently I was cleaning out my spice cabinet and realized I had a lot of spices that most people have no idea how to use. So, of course, that led me to thinking I could do a whole series of posts on most underused spices. I’ll be dropping these in every once in a while just when you least expect it! The first on my list (and a lot of other people’s list) of most underused spice is Cardamom.
Cardamom is one of the world’s oldest spices yet also one most people know
nothing about (and many have never even heard of). It originated in Southern
India and grows wild in the forests there. Today it is also grown in Sri Lanka,
Guatemala, Indo China, and Tanzania.
Over the centuries, Cardamom has had many medicinal and culinary uses. Ancient Egyptians used it as a tooth cleaner. Greeks and Romans used it as a perfume. The Vikings discovered Cardamom about a thousand years ago and introduced it to Scandinavia where it is still popular
today. Cardamom is found in many Ethnic main dish and even dessert recipes.
Cardamom comes from the seeds of a ginger-like plant. The small, brown-black sticky seeds are contained in a pod in three double rows with about six seeds in each row. The pods are between 5-20 mm (1/4”-3/4”) long. The texture of the pod is that of tough paper. Pods are available whole or split and the seeds are sold loose or ground. It is best to buy the whole pods as
ground cardamom quickly loses flavor.
Bouquet: Pungent, warm and aromatic.
Flavor: Warm and eucalyptine with camphorous and lemony undertones. [1]

Here are some links to some wonderful Cardamom recipes:
Cardamom Honey
Chicken: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001991cardamom_honey_chicken.php
Cardamom
Citrus Fruit Salad: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001718cardamom_citrus_fruit_salad.php
Cardamom
Coffee Cake: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,149181-234192,00.html

And some links for more info and folklore about Cardamom:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cardamom/detail.aspx
http://cardamomaddict.blogspot.com/2006/01/masala-chai.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamom

Of course you can always just type “Cardamom” or “Cardamom Recipes” in your search engine and you’ll likely get more than you could possibly ever need.
So go out and buy some Cardamom and treat yourself to a whole new spice world! Once you discover the aroma and taste I think you’ll find yourself dreaming up even more ways to use it (try sprinkling ground cardamom on oatmeal!).

Happy Spicing!

Kerry





[1] http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/cardamom.html

A kitchen without a whisk is like a boat without a rudder.

Sure it'll run but it just doesn't work very well.





I choose this as my first blog title to get off to a running start. I want this blog to be about kitchen tools, gadgets, recipes, tips....the kitchen sink and everything else! I figured the whisk is one of the basic building blocks to any kitchen.





First a little history (I'll try not to bore you).
Dictionary.com defines a whisk as:


"an implement, usually a bunch of wire loops held together in a handle, for beating or whipping eggs, cream, etc."
whisk. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whisk (accessed: July 16, 2007).





Wikipedia has this to say about whisks:

Although the modern whisk may have only appeared at the end of the 19th century,
evidence of whisk-like tools exist even further back in history. A bundle of
twigs fastened together make an effective whisk; often the wood used would
lend a certain fragrance to the dish. An 18th century Shaker recipe calls to
“Cut a handful of peach twigs which are filled with sap at this season of
the year. Clip the ends and bruise them and beat the cake batter with them.
This will impart a delicate peach flavor to the cake.”

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisk"

Now on to more fun information. I honestly believe that anyone who cooks even on a semi-regular basis has at least one whisk. Those of us who cook often probably have more whisks than we could possible ever use. Notice I didn't say need - my basic philosophy on kitchen gadgets and tools is that "if I don't have it I need it". This includes all shapes, sizes, colors, and other variations of tools I already have. I recently tried counting exactly how many whisks I have. I lost count after 10 because I found a whisk I had forgotten about and started daydreaming about all the possible uses for it.

What other uses than the obvious could there possibkly be for a whisk, you ask. Ok, here are some I have come up with both cooking and non-cooking related:

1. Hold the very end of the handle with the tips of your fingers. Slide the other end (tines) over a bottle on the back of a hard to reach shelf and slowly pull it forward sliding the bottle towards you and making it easier to reach.
2. Dip the times into melted chocolate and then twirl over frosted cake to form a swirl or splatter decoration.
3. Use a a "brush" for splatter painting (best not to let this one back in to the kitchen after this use).
4. Use several different colors, shapes, and sizes and tie handles together with an apron or kitchen twine for a hostess gift "bouquet".

My two favorite and most-used whisks are my standard balloon type whisk and my flat whisk. I also love my very tiny whisk that is excellent for mixing up small amounts of sauces and drinks. I recently saw a whisk with a built-in thermometer for temperature-sensitive recipes. This will likely be the next addition to my utensil drawer.

Whisks are universal tools that unite all chefs, home cooks, and chef wannabes. These are not elite tools seen only on foodtv that no one has ever seen before. Everyone has one and knows how to use it. Sure, there may be more effective methods for getting the most out of your whisk, but even a toddler can pick one up and know basically what to do with it.

Well I could likely go on and on about the virtues of whisks and whisking, but I'd love to hear what you all have to say and any cool uses you have found for your whisks. Also, please let me know if you have any special requests for posts you'd like from me in the future (do I hear microplane grater anyone?).

Kerry