Do you ever shy away from prepping a recipe because you don’t know what a particular ingredient and/or spice is that’s listed in the recipe? You can always alter the recipe with substituting an ingredient. However, when the recipe calls for a specific spice can we leave it out? We can but a spice is sure to add flavor to your end product so it might be more important to learn more about the spice first. Cardamom is the spice that is on my learning list this week. I (Litsa) had never heard about it until I read through a recipe I wanted to recreate. This is what I have learned about cardamom:
- It is an expensive spice ($11.49 on our grocery shelves).
- It is made from the seed pods of various ginger family plants.
- It has a strong, pungent flavor & aroma, with hints of lemon, mint and smoke.
- There are two main types of cardamom: black and green cardamom.
- The cardamom pod can be used whole and/or ground.
- If spice is bought from the spice section ground, it won’t be as flavorful.
About Food says, “Cardamom is used mainly in Indian cooking as well as Middle Eastern cuisine. In Indian recipes, whole cardamom pods are used in preparing basmati rice and various curries. In Middle Eastern recipes, ground cardamom is used in preparing certain desserts.”
Now that I’ve done a little research about the spice I knew nothing about, I’m ready to revisit the recipe I wanted to try. How much cardamom is called for? Is it enough to make a difference in adding this ingredient to my pantry (and will I use this spice again)! The cardamom questions linger until I pull the recipe but I know that I have the spice’s relative in my pantry, ginger.
Is cardamom in your spice pantry?
More Spice Spotlight Posts:
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