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