Cardamom: The Queen of Spices

click to enlarge

I decided to experiment a bit with macro photography yesterday, with cardamom as my first subject. I've made so many wonderful dishes with cardamom recently, and I found it really interesting to focus on it, in its different forms, through the lens of the camera for a moment. It's really amazing how many things we look at every day that we don't really see.

Some things I never knew (how about you?):

- Cardamom is referred to as the queen of spices, and black pepper the king.

- It is native to the jungles of south India and  Sri Lanka, and belongs to the family of ginger.

- It is second only to saffron in cost.

- Cleopatra apparently found the scent of cardamom so enticing that she would burn the crushed pods, instead of incense, before the arrival of Marc Antony.

- In the New Testament, which was largely written in Greek, 'amooman' appears in reference to the aromatic plant cardamom. The word means "blameless without reproach".

I'm interested in trying the white and black varieties of cardamom as well. If anyone has any suggestions or would like to pass along a recipe for either type, please let me know!

Comments

[ZarahMaria]

That is a GORGEOUS photo Moira! What camera do you use? Such a shame you missed the spice up your winter edition of Sugar High Friday, I would've loved to have seen your contribution - but looks like I'm not gonna miss out on you cooking with cardamom as it is!;-)

[Moira]

Hi Zarah,

Thanks so much! I'm currently using an Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom- it's a 5.1 megapixel digital SLR. I love it, but it's got a pretty steep learning curve. I'm used to old-school 35mms and this seems to drain a lot more of my brain power. It's nice to have results immediately, though and I know that handling it will seem like second nature eventually.

I so wish that I had been able to participate in that SHF, but you're right- I'll try to make up for it all on my own right here! ;-)

[paul]

I just did some cardamom crepes (recipe at my blog), but my favorite is making real hot chocolate with black cardamom.

Nice shot by the way.

[Moira]

Hi Paul,

Ooooh, I would definitely be interested in making cardamom crepes- I'll go get your recipe immediately. If it ever gets cold over here this winter, I'll have to try the black cardamom in hot chocolate- it sounds great.

I'm glad you like the shot!

Cheers,

[ejm]

I believe that white cardamom is just green pods that have been bleached. We only ever get green and black. The black pods go whole into curries. (Great idea to put cardamom into hot chocolate, Paul! I love putting cardamom in coffee.) Or we crush green cardamom seeds till they are a fine powder and use those in curries. But one of my absolute favourite uses of cardamom is in a layered cake we make every Christmas: Vinarterta. The shortbread-like thin layers (flavoured with almond extract and cardamom) are held together with a prune and cinnamon filling. It might seem labour intensive but it is so so good! The recipe is linked from my blog (search "Christmas baking").

[OsloFoodie]

Hi Moira, what a nice shot. I am hopeless when it comes to photography but I really do admire good food photography from other bloggers.

[rowena]

Moira...my god, that photo is stunning! It is about 5:15pm and as I was reading this post, my husband was playing Beethhoven's Chiaro di Luna...uhmm...Moonlight Sonta(?) on the piano and it just...I don't know, added a more dramatic effect to your beautiful close-up shot and the tidbits of info that you shared!!! What a nice way to just log in for a few seconds...brava!

[Moira]

Hi ejm,

Your Christmas cake sounds absolutely divine! I don't think I can't wait another year to try it- I think it will have to be much sooner. Thanks!

Hi Ms. OsloFoodie,

I'm so glad you like my shot! You are definitely *not* a hopeless photographer- I think your photos are good and always include a thoughtful composition.

Hello Rowena,

Thank you for your very kind words and for sharing a bit of your evening! I'm so pleased to have been part of that lovely scene in some way, and I wish I had been able to hear your husband's playing as well. Grazie!

Cheers everyone,

[Bakerina]

Oh, yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah. :) Now, that is something beautiful. I mean, every picture you take is something beautiful, but that one...whoa.

Steve at Blog d'Elisson asked me if I felt up to creating a cardamom babka. You might have just nudged me one step further in that direction, Moira. Which is a good thing, really. :)

[ejm]

No, don't wait, Moira! I gather that it is a relatively common cake in Iceland - not necessarily only for special occasions. I'm just lazy and can only bring myself to make it once a year. And then there's the impatience factor. It really doesn't taste like anything to write home about when it's freshly made. The aging is what makes it spectacular because the flavours meld.

It really does need a few weeks to cure so do make sure that wherever that is is a dry place (I wrap it in plastic then foil and put it in a tin). I can't even think of making vinarterta in the summertime here. The humidity is too high and it would go moldy. But winter is the perfect time because the humidity tends to be low.

For those who are interested, the recipe is at http://etherwork.net/recipes/vineterte.html

[Abby]

GORGEOUS!!!

[Moira]

Ms. Bakerina! Thank you SO much! You are very sweet, in addition to being very talented, and I can't wait to hear about your cardamom babka.

Hi ejm,

Yes, the vinaterta is right up there on my list of things to make very soon...I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks to your very detailed notes, I'm sure it will be a fantastic success!

Hi Abby,

Thanks for stopping by and thank you for your very nice comment!

Cheers all,