Conference turris::cooks

I've found it at many big supermarkets, check Shaw's or Market Basket.

Probably the recipes you are using call for ground cardamom. You can
also get seeds, but they are big (bigger than your average orange seed)
and must be ground to be useful.

Cardamom is a sort of "sweet" spice - like vanilla, it adds some
sweetness and mellowness.   But it is spicier than vanilla. It is
most often used in Indian foods, and it spicy-sweet foods like
puddings and carrot salad and stuff like that.

if you can't find it anywhere else, check an Indian or eastern foods
grocer, such as East-West foods in Nashua.

Diana

    I would almost tend to say that the pods taste like biting into a 
    flower!
    Health-food and "bin" stores usually have both ground or the whole
    version. 
    (funny, I plan to make a big batch of curry tonight, and the recipe
    calls for both kinds....)
    
    Monica

    
    I have seen it in almost all supermarkets.
    
    If you are in the Maynard area, Idylwilde Farm in Acton also carries it.
    
    Buy a small quantity of ground.  The flavor does lessen with age in the
    ground variety.  Pods keep the flavor for months.  I like to peel
    the pods and "blend" a few seeds (1/2 tsp or 1 tsp) in the mini
    container of my Oster blender.  That makes good fresh ground powder.
    
    ...Shubha          

the seeds of this plant are very aromatic and make a lovely room deodorizer
for bathrooms, etc.  They are also a wonderful breath freshener - simply
chew the dried seeds a few times and either expel or swallow.  I love this
spice in milk-based desserts like custards and pastry creams...just a whisper
of cardomon is wonderful.  This is also used very frequently in Indian
cuisine.

    I used to get this at Pinches and Pounds in Westboro...
    
    Does anyone know...Are they gone for good, or have they moved again?
    

Whole cardamom consists of a few black seeds in a white pod that is, as
previously mentioned, a bit larger than an orange pip.  You don't use the
white pod part, just the seeds.  Ground cardamom is ground cardamom seeds.

--PSW

    I recall buying cardamom at Shaw's for $5+, and then seeing it
    at Alexander's for $3+.  What a difference in price!
    

Mmmm, one of the most useful spices! Curiously, I've always called it
"cardamon" (with an "n"), but my dictionary says both are right (and
also "cardamum").

You can:

Grind up the seeds from one pod and add to curried rice.

Add ground seeds from a pod or two to puff pastry (or to yeast-based
puff pastry -- this is the basic Danish pastry dough).

It's great in marinades for chicken, fish, and meat. If I'm not
mistaken, it's the "strange flavor" in the Chinese dish "Strange
Flavored Chicken".

I plan to try making ice cream with it!

And how about in a hot drink?

In salad dressing?

In a dip recipe?

In stuffing?

Etc., etc.

By the way, it also comes in another slightly different and very
fragrant variety with a green pod (from some east asian country, I
forget which).

    wow, this is great!  I asked a lot of friends, but I guess none
    of them cook!  I checked Shaws and Victory in Hudson, I'll keep
    looking!
    
    thanks!  :*)
    

    My favorite place to buy herbs and spices is the Concord Spice and
    Grain store, 93 Thoreau St., Concord.  They are open 7 days and if
    they don't have it, it doesn't exist.
    
    I have bought all my Indian spices there, including cardamon.  They
    have a great section of cook books, unusual kitchen items.  Once, when
    I went in there on a Saturday, they were giving out samples of some of
    the unusual frozen dinners they sell.
    
    The store is in Concord Center (that's the "center" - not where all the
    other stores and banks are).  If you are coming from Rte. 2, take Rte.
    62 toward Concord.  At the lights just before Concord Academy, take a
    right, that is Thoreau St.  (I know there is a way to get there
    directly from Rte. 2 but this is the one that I know the best.)
    
    I find it a fun spot just to check out occasionally.   

The "strange flavor" in Chinese "strange flavor chicken" is Sichuan Peppercorn,
not cardamom.

--PSW

Given your familiarity with Asian cuisine (as demonstrated in this
conference), I guess you must be right. What made me think it was
cardamon was that we had it once at Hunan in Central Sq, and the flavor
of cardamon was fairly strong (at least I thought it was cardamon).
Also, we have sichuan peppercorns at home (use them occasionally), and
I didn't think they tasted that much different from other peppercorns.
Or at least, they don't taste much like cardamon. Is it possible that
the preparation at Hunan was a bit unorthodox?

	I've had cardamom on rice pudding at a restaurant in Harvard
	Square.  I was skeptical when I ordered it, but it was delicious!

	Cara

    If you keep a jug of water in the freeze, try adding a pod in it.  

RE: .12

The things that I've used in cooking that are called "Sichuan peppercorns"
are red, wrinkled, round pods, about the size of a peppercorn, hollow, with
a small black seed.  They don't smell or taste much like normal peppercorns
to me--they aren't hot, and they have a somewhat camphorlike aroma that
gives a numbing sensation on the tongue.  I think this is the flavor that
I detect in strange-flavor chicken, but since I don't have a recipe for it,
you may be right--it could be cardamom.

--PSW

Ah, okay. The stuff I have which is called "sichuan peppercorns"
doesn't match your description at all. They resemble black peppercorns,
only more wrinkled, and they taste something like pepper. I can't
remember where I got them, but I'll bet they're not the real thing.

    This is a seed or a dried fruit of a flowering plant belonging to the 
    ginger family.  The seeds are enclosed in fibrous green or black pods.
    The seeds are used in garam masala. Many Indians carry cardamom seeds
    in small pill boxes to chew.  It too, has a digestive effect.
    

    We have a spice store here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that does a
    brisk mail order business. I don't have their phone number, but they are
    under the 817 area code. They have about every spice imagineable in
    the world. The name of the company is Penderry's. Ask them for their
    catalog. Prices are competitive and spices are fresh!
                                                                

    Here in Israel, most Arab/Oriental restaurants serve what we call as
    "Turkish coffe" perfumed with Cardamom. The local for Cardamom is Hell,
    so you get "Coffee with Hell" at the restaurant - or at the supermarket.

    The coffee companies sell here the ground coffee with the Hell already
    added to it, and it is prepared just like regular Turkish coffee. Try
    this, after a heavy meal, and with baklava and similar oriental desserts.

    I cannot give you any proportions, but I believe the amount of Cardamom 
    added to coffee is just enough to perfume the coffee, a pinch I might say.

    Regards,

    Juan-Carlos 

    My roommate makes darjeeling tea with cardamom, here's what she does:
    
    Pour enough water for four cups into a saucepan and add four teaspoons
    of the tea leaves, four whole cloves, a finger of ginger (optional), a
    cinnamon stick, and four GREEN  cardamom pods.  Do not boil.  Heat
    until just before boiling and turn down to simmer for five minutes. 
    Let it steep for five or ten minutes, strain and serve.  Her favorite
    way to is with heavy cream and sugar to taste.
    
    dm