20 ways to use fresh Cardamom Ginger: tropical exotic recipes

🍴 20 ways to use fresh Cardamom Ginger: tropical exotic recipes

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is one of the world's oldest and most prized spices, often called the Queen of Spices. Native to the rainforests of southern India, its fragrant seeds have flavored food, tea, coffee, and desserts for thousands of years. The flavor is unlike anything else - sweet, citrusy, slightly minty, and warmly spicy all at once.
Besides its wonderful aroma, cardamom has long been valued in traditional medicine. It contains antioxidant compounds and has traditionally been used to support digestion, freshen breath, and ease bloating after meals.

🌿 Where to use cardamom

Freshly crushed cardamom seeds instantly elevate both sweet and savory dishes.
Try adding it to:

• Coffee (especially Turkish or Arabic coffee)
• Chai tea
• Hot chocolate
• Rice dishes and pilaf
• Curry sauces
• Butter chicken
• Biryani
• Pumpkin soup
• Apple pie
• Cinnamon rolls
• Gingerbread
• Cookies
• Rice pudding
• Ice cream
• Fruit salad
• Smoothies
• Homemade granola
• Mulled wine or cider
• Poached pears
• Homemade jam

🌱 You grew the plant - now where is the cardamom?

The spice comes from the seeds inside the green pods that develop after the plant flowers. Each pod contains rows of tiny black aromatic seeds.

Harvest the pods when they're still green but fully developed. Let them dry in a warm, airy place until they become pale and papery. When you're ready to cook, gently crack open a pod and remove the seeds. The seeds carry most of the flavor, although the empty pod can also be simmered in tea, rice, or curries for a milder aroma.

For the freshest flavor, crush the seeds just before using them. Pre-ground cardamom loses its fragrance surprisingly quickly.

🌿 The world's third most expensive spice

After Saffron and Vanilla, Cardamom is often considered the world's third most expensive spice by weight. The good news? One pod perfumes an entire pot of tea or rice.

🛒 Grow your own Cardamom Spice

📚 Learn more:

Elettaria cardamomum - in Plant Encyclopedia
The most interesting edible gingers
The fiery plant that fights sugar: Nature secret insulin?

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