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Articles: Recipes | Cardamoms (Aelakulu)
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 | | | Name | : | Cardamom | | | Botanical Name | : | Elettaria cardamomum | | | Family | : | Zingiberaceae |
| | History: | | | | Cardamom is one of the world's very ancient spices. Cardamom is a native herb of India, first used around the 4th century BC. It grows wild in the forests of the Western Ghats in southern India. Greeks and Romans imported it as a digestive aid. It was probably imported into Europe around A.D. 1214. Today it also grows in Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Indo China and Tanzania. | | | | The ancient Egyptians chewed cardamom seeds as a tooth cleaner; the Greeks and Romans used it as a perfume. In Sweden it has become a more popular spice than cinnamon. Today, cardamom is cultivated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand and Central America. | | | | Cardamom is an expensive spice, second only to saffron. It is often adulterated and there are many inferior substitutes from cardamom-related plants, such as Siam cardamom, Nepal cardamom, winged Java cardamom, and bastard cardamom. However, it is only Elettaria cardamomum, which is the true cardamom. Indian cardamom is known in two main varieties: Malabar cardamom and Mysore cardamom. The Mysore variety contains higher levels of cineol and limonene and hence is more aromatic. | | | | Physical Study: | | | | Cardamom is the ground seed of a tropical fruit. The seeds are found in oval shaped fruit pods that are between 1/4 and 1inch long. 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 larger variety known as 'black', being brown and the smaller being green. White-bleached pods are also available. The pods are roughly triangular in cross section and oval or oblate. Their dried surface is rough and furrowed, the large 'blacks' having deep wrinkles. The texture of the pod is that of tough paper. It is best to buy the whole pods as ground cardamom quickly loses flavour. | | | | Plant Portrayal: | | | | Cardamom comes from the seeds of a ginger-like plant. In plantation cultivation, forest undergrowth is cleared and trees thinned to give just enough shade and the rhizome or seeds planted at 3m (10 ft) intervals. It grows about 2-5m (6-16 feet) in height. It has a large tuberous rhizome and long, dark green leaves 30-60 cm (1-2 ft) long, 5-15 cm (2-6') wide. Trailing leafy stalks, which bear the seedpods, grow from the plant base at ground level. The flowers are green with a white purple-veined tip. The plants are gathered in October-December, before they ripen, to avoid the capsules splitting during drying. They are dried in the sun or bleached with sulphur fumes. | | | | Storage | | | | Store the spice in dark, sealed containers away from light. Fill each container completely. Keep the pods whole until use. | | | | Taste And Aroma | | | | Cardamom has an aromatic, pungent, sweet flavor. | | | | Culinary Uses: | | | | The pods can be used whole or split while cooking. Otherwise, the seeds can be bruised and fried or pounded with other spices before adding main ingredients. Cardamom is often included in Indian sweet dishes and drinks and curries. It is essential in pulavs, biriyanis (rice dishes). It is used to flavour tea drunk with milk. It enhances taste in beverages, desserts, flans, rice puddings, porridges, etc. Cardamom is also chewed habitually (like nuts) where freely available, as in the East Indies, and in the Indian masticory, betel pan. It is seen as a 'festive' spice, because of its high price. | | | | Medical Uses: | | | | Cardamom is used as a flavour and basis for medicinal preparations for indigestion and flatulence. The Arabs attributed aphrodisiac qualities to it (it features regularly in the Arabian Nights) and the ancient Indians regarded it as a cure for obesity. It has been used as a digestive since ancient times. A medicinal (perhaps aphrodisiac) cordial can be made by macerating seeds in hot water. | | | |
| Ethnic Uses: | | | | In India Cardamom is traditionally used in curry blends, and in Scandinavian countries it is commonly added to breads; however, most of the world's Cardamom crop is used in Arabic countries as a flavoring for coffee. Cardamom is used as a breath-freshener, but it is said that excessive use thins the blood. | | | | Other Names: | | | | Cardamom is also known as the 'Grains of Paradise'. | | | | | French | : | Cardamome | | | German | : | Kardamom | | | Itlaian | : | Cardamomo, Cardamone | | | Spanish | : | Cardamomo | | | Burmese | : | Phalazee | | | Chinese | : | ts 'ao-k' ou | | | Indonesian | : | Kapulaga | | | Malay | : | Buah pelaga | | | Sinhalese | : | Enasal | | | Thai | : | Grawahn, Kravan | | | Indian | : | Elachi, Illaichi | | | Telugu | : | Aelakulu |
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