How well do you know about the spices that are the hidden magical ingredients in your food? We often miss out on the basic spices that make our food delicious and Iget Bar. Numerous ingredients magnify the taste of the food. One such taste-enhancing spice that you will find in your kitchen is – “Cardamom” Before we delve into the wonders of cardamom, let us understand what exactly are spices and what is their significance in our food. And why do they deserve the recognition and shout-out?

In culinary art, typically spices are the dried parts of the plant such as seeds, bark, fruits, roots, or flower buds. Some examples of spices are cardamom, black pepper, ginger, cumin seeds, cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, nutmeg, and chilli powder. For thousands of years, people of different cultures have been using spices to add taste, aroma, and colour to make food more exciting, pungent, and luscious. You can use the spices as whole, ground, roasted, or simply make a paste. It depends solely on your preference.

Not only do the spices enhance the taste and aroma of the food but they also come with a multitude of health benefits. Some of the spices also have medicinal effects, due to which people have been consuming them for such purposes. They can be mild, pungent, spicy, and sweet and they give the necessary depth and twist to your meals. Mostly, they are blended as an idea of spice mixes such as garam masala or curry powder.

Now that we know enough about the spices that we use in our kitchen. Let’s no about the top charter amongst all the spices i.e. Cardamom. Known as the “queen of spices”, cardamom is a popular spice in Nepali, Indian, Swedish, and Middle Eastern kitchens. Sometimes people use the words “cardamom” and “cardamon” interchangeably. In both those cases, they are correct, but the meaning is still the same. In Nepalese kitchen, it is popular by the name “Alainchi”, or “Sukumel/Sukmel”.

Cardamom is a spice that has either whole or seeds or ground cardamom pods of Elettaria cardamomum or Amomum cardamom. Both of which are members of the Zingiberaceae family, better known as the ginger family. Also, it is a close relative to the turmeric family. The form of cardamom pods is an unusual spindle. When split open, they feature a triangle cross-section. And, inside them, you can find several tiny cardamom seeds. Interestingly you can use both the seeds and the entire pod as spices to give your food a distinctive flavour and aroma.