Cardamom Seed

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Joined
May 12, 2010
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Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
The word Cardamom is used to describe the seed pod of the dried fruit of a plant of the ginger family. The name "Cardamom" and not "Cardamon" is more commonly used in the spice and baking trade. Cardamom seed is a native of India, but is now imported from Guatemala and Ceylon, as well as India.

"Bold Bleached" Cardamom is the selected whole Cardamom pod, bleached white, which is sometimes sold in small cellophane bags for purposes of breath purification in bar rooms.

Cardamom pods, about 5/16 inch in size, contain numerous small seeds which carry all the flavor. Decorticated Cardamom is the seed with the hulls or pods removed. Ground Decorticated Cardamom is more intense in flavor because the hulls do not dilute the mixture.

Ground Cardamom is used in the baking industry, particularly in areas such as Chicago, Wisconsin, and Minnesota where people of Scandinavian descent are living. Although there is some demand for ground decorticated Cardamom, the demand is not sufficient to offer it on a natural basis.

The flavor of Cardamom is aromatic, pungent, and intense. Although one of the most expensive of spices, a little goes a long way. A very small amount will add a tempting flavor to coffee cake, buns, Danish pastry, and specialty breads. Cardamom has an affinity to the flavor of coffee. It is used in more expensive spice blends such as pickling spice and curry powder.

Some ingenious and successful bakers have a practice of changing the flavor in their baked goods every several weeks. A touch of Cardamom, Mace, or Clove, when added to the Danish pastry dough, costs very little but prevents a baker's product from developing that "sameness" that drives customers to other shops for a change.

From: "A Handbook of Spices by Durkee."
 
It's so expensive! Usually our Indian grocery has spices about a tenth the cost of a regular grocery, but I guess Cardamom is expensive everywhere.
 
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