Cardamom Medicine
"Cardamom Pods" by Steenbergs is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Here we have another ginger family aromatic, anti-inflammatory spice that is native to warmer climates - Cardamom. Previously, we discussed turmeric and ginger who are also members of this family and prized spices both for their flavors as well as their medicinal benefits.
I must admit that cardamom is a newer to me spice. I fell in love with it earlier this year when looking for new recipes for rhubarb and stumbled across a fantastic recipe on Cook with What you Have for Rhubarb Orange Pudding cake - it’s my new favorite rhubarb recipe and it’s incorporation of cardamom opened my tastebuds and mind to this tasty herb.
Since then, I’ve been playing with a vegan, no sugar hot chocolate with cardamom and cinnamon that I hope to perfect and share with you next week when we talk all things chocolate! Stay tuned.
Cardamom Energetics and Actions:
If you have cardamom on hand, I invite you to pop one of these little seeds into your mouth and give it a taste. This experiment makes me just so happy due to the delightful flavor, the relaxation through my nervous system, and cardamom’s action as an exhilarant. As you sit with this spice, wait a few minutes and pay attention to your body and how you feel. Make a note of its effects and if pleasant for you, perhaps consider adding cardamom to your life more often!
Cardamom is warming, drying, tonifying to the tissues, dispursive, and relaxing to the nervous system. It has an affinity for the digestive system and the lungs. Slow, sluggish digestion and damp, cold, stuck mucus in the lungs respond well to cardamom’s effects.
Cardamom has the following actions:
Acid balancing - for the stomach
Anti-inflammatory
Antimicrobial - even decreasing levels of aflatoxin!
Antispasmodic - reduces spasms in muscles
Carminative - eases digestive gas and bloating
Cholagogue - stimulates bile release so you can digest fats
Decongestant - moves stagnant fluids
Deodorant - both freshening breath and reducing the odor of digestive gas
Exhilarant - helps you feel joy for life, uplifting
Expectorant - helps you cough things out
Nervine - relaxing to the nervous system
Sialogogue - increases saliva and other digestive secretions
Tonic - overall support for the body - mostly through improved digestion and assimilation of nutrients
"Cardamome - Elettaria cardamomum" by Glassholic is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
How to work with Cardamom:
Like ginger and turmeric, cardamom works well when added to food. With such a lovely and distinct taste, why wouldn’t you add it to your food? Purchase the green pods and then grind them in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. You can then blend with other spices or add it on its own - but be careful, you can easily overwhelm a dish with this flavor.
I like cardamom in sweet treats and sips and add it to my autumn/winter warming and digestive supporting spice blend. Candied or plain seeds can be chewed after a meal as a breath freshener similar to fennel seeds. If you aren’t a fan of fennel, give cardamom a try.
Think of where you can add more spice in your cooking:
pancakes, chai, golden milk, hot chocolate, pies, oatmeal, cookies, sweet breads, baked apples/pears, butters, honeys, applesauce, soups, stews, sauces, jams, jellies, syrups, cake…
All will work well with cardamom added. Add it to ground coffee beans to make a flavored coffee blend that is less acid stimulating if you experience GERD with coffee drinking. Beyond that rhubarb cake, my second favorite way to work with cardamom is in a vanilla-cardamom golden plum butter - divine!
Once you know the flavor, experiment and have fun. Start slow and add more until each new experiment is perfect for you and your tastebuds. This is the fun of playing with plants - they are food, fantastic food, and you can get as creative as you like.
Pregnant people rejoice, this is another herb that has no known contraindications for use as long as it feels good in your body and you enjoy the flavor, feel free to add it to your food.
Tinctures and glycerine infusions of cardamom are another great way to work with this herb. Herbalist Julie James introduces a rose and cardamom glycerine infusion in her talk referenced below. These two herbs combine exhilarant and aphrodisiac effects - this is on my list to create and play with!
I hope you have learned something new today and you are excited about cardamom. If you have favorite cardamom recipes to share, please feel free to post in the comments below, send me an email, or fine me on Facebook or Instagram and let’s start a conversation there!
To our health!
Resources
Tilgner, S, Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth, Second Edition
James, J. Green Wisdom Herbal Studies https://www.facebook.com/GreenWisdomLongBeach/videos/346824069414311
Al-Sohaibani S, Murugan K, Lakshimi G, Anandraj K. Xerophilic aflatoxigenic black tea fungi and their inhibition by Elettaria cardamomum and Syzygium aromaticum extracts. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2011 Oct;18(4):387-94. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2011.06.005. Epub 2011 Jul 2. PMID: 23961151; PMCID: PMC3730779.
