cardamom has a fresh and aromatic aroma which is complex in nature. It can be described as slightly sweet, floral, and spicy with citric elements.
Camphor is easily discernible in its odour which gives a strong smoky flavour. It persuasive essay 5 paragraph pay someone to write your essay leaves the tongue with a warm antiseptic sensation similar to eucalyptus and a pepper like after taste.
The fruit is 4 to 6 times size o sample analytical essay https://writemyessayrapid.com/ f small cardamom. The seed has had the outer pod, or cardamom fruit, removed so that only the pure seeds remain.
Generally the seeds are crushed or ground prior to use, which provides plenty of cardamom flavor at a more economical price.
Amomum (commonly known as black cardamom, Kravan, Java cardamom, Bengal cardamom, persuasive essay 5 paragraph pay someone to write your essay Siamese cardamom, white or red cardamom) is distributed mainly in Asia and Australia.
Aframomum (Madagascar cardamom, grains of paradise) is distributed in mainland Africa and Madagascar.
Here we will be discussing, Green Cardamom, Elettaria subulatum
Spice Description
Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic fragrance. Cardamom is best stored in pod form, because once the seeds are exposed or ground, they quickly lose their flavour.
It is the dried, un ripened fruit of the plant. The small, brown-black sticky seeds are contained in a pod in three double rows with about six seeds in each row.
The fruit capsules, green in colour, which are collected just before maturity, are three-sided, 8 – 25 mm long and 2 – 4 mm wide and have three compartments containing a total of 15 – 20 seeds (2 – 4 mm in diameter).
The seeds are found in oval shaped, roughly triangular fruit pods that are between 1/4 and 1 inch long. Their dried surface is rough and furrowed, the large ‘blacks’ having deep wrinkles. The texture of the pod is that of tough paper. Pods are available whole or split and the seeds are sold loose or ground.
They have warm and eucalyptine with camphorous and lemony undertones flavour. Enclosed in the fruit pods are tiny, brown, aromatic seeds which are slightly pungent to taste. Cardamom pods are generally green but are also available in bleached white pod form.
History
Cardamom, sometimes called, is a pungent, aromatic herb first used around the eighth century, and is a native of India. It was probably imported into Europe around A.D. 1214.
Today, cardamom is cultivated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand and Central America.
Cardamom, which is also called Grains of Paradise, is native to the East originating in the forests of the western ghats in southern India, where it grows wild. Cardamom plants grow wild in parts of the monsoon forests of the Western Ghats in southern India. This area has become known as the Cardamom Hills.
Today it also grows in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand, Central America, Indo China and Tanzania. Whole Cardamom pods come from India while the decorticated seeds are imported from Guatemala. Indian Cardamom is considered to be of premium quality.
It was first used around eighth century. Cardamom is mentioned in Sanskrit texts of the 4th century BC in a treatise on politics called Kautilya’s Arthashasthra and in Taitirriya Samhita where it is used in offerings.
Although India is the largest producer of cardamom, only a small share of the Indian production is exported because of the large domestic demand. The main exporting country is Guatemala, where cardamom cultivation has been introduced to less than a century ago and where all cardamom is grown for export.
Despite its numerous applications in the cooking styles of Sri Lanka, India and Iran, 60% of the world production is exported to Arab.
Plant Description
It is a perennial bush of the ginger family, with sheathed stems reaching 10-12 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 grow from the plant base at ground level, these bear the seed pods.
The flowers are white with blue stripes and yellow borders.
The fruit is a small capsule with 8 to 16 brown seeds; the seeds are used as a spice.
Cultivation
It grows in the tropics, wild and in plantations. Cardamoms are traditionally grown in partially cleared tropical rain forests, leaving some shade.
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.
Green fruit capsules are harvested before they are fully mature and dried in curing installations, so ensuring that they retain their green color (“greens”). These are the highest grade cardamom pods.
Parts Used
Whole fruit pod and seeds are used.
Preparation & Storage
The whole cardamom can be used in cooking.
The seeds can be ground in a mill and powder can be used in different cooking recipes.
They can be used either by frying whole or pounding with other spices.
They should be store in an airtight container.
Chemical constituents
The essential oil in the seeds contain a-terpineol 45%, myrcene 27%, limonene 8%, menthone 6%, ß-phellandrene 3%, 1,8-cineol 2%, sabinene 2% and heptane 2%.
Culinary Uses
The leaves are cooked and eaten as greens and the roots are said to be sweet succulent and delicious when boiled like potatoes.
Flowers are a sweet addition to salads or as a garnish and young seedpods are steamed.
Culinary Uses
The pods can be used whole or split when cooked in Indian substantial meals — such as pulses
Cardamom is often included in Indian sweet dishes and drinks like punches and milled wines.
It is used in pickles, especially pickled herring and flavors custard.
It is also chewed habitually (like nuts) where freely available, as in the East Indies, and in the Indian masticory, betel pan.
It is often used in baking in Scandinavia and in Danish pastries.
Throughout the Arab world, Cardamom is one of the most popular spices, with Cardamom coffee being a symbol of hospitality and prestige.
In the Moghul cuisine (Northern India) it abundantly used in the delicious rice dishes called biriyanis.
In Sri Lanka, the pods are added to fiery beef or chicken curries.
A small amount of Cardamom will add a tempting flavor to coffee cake.
Flans, rice puddings, porridges, etc. taste much better with a dash of cardamom.
Add whole cardamoms to flavour tea drunk with milk.
Medicinal Uses
A stimulant and carminative, it is used for indigestion and flatulence
In India, green cardamom (A. subulatum) is broadly used to treat infections in teeth and gums.
It is used to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis
Used in inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders.
It is also reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom.
Indians regarded it as a cure for obesity.
Cardamom is used as a breath-freshener, but it is said that excessive use thins the blood.
Other Names
French: cardamome
German: Kardamom
Italian: cardamomo, cardamone
Spanish: cardamomo
Burmese: phalazee
Chinese: ts’ao-k’ou
Indian: chhoti elachi, e(e)lachie, ela(i)chi, illaichi
Indonesian: kapulaga
Sinhalese: enasal
Thai: grawahn, kravan
