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Indian cooking uses two types of Cardamom – Green and Black.
Elettaria (commonly called cardamom, green cardamom, or true cardamom) is grown in the region of India upto Malaysia from Indian region to Malaysia.
Green Cardamom has a cooling affect.
Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance.
How to Store
It is best to store it in pod form, just break the pod when you are going to use it, otherwise the aromas is lost if the seeds are exposed or grounded to powder. So if possible make the powder fresh in a spice grinder or in a small mortar and pestle.The powder is normally made of the seeds. Though the green covering is also has flavour. If you buy the ready made powder then you are sure that they would have grounded the whole Cardamoms. So it is best to make it at home.
Medicinal use of Green cardamom
In the South East Asian region Green Cardamom is used to treat infection in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids, and digestive disorders.
It is said to help break the kidney and gall stones as well.
It also is used to break up kidney and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venoms.
Try putting one Green Cardamom in your mouth to get rid of any mouth odour after food. There is no need to chew it. Just keep it in the mouth and throw it out. If you want you can eat it as well.
How to use
Just add 2 or three cardamom in your recipe in the middle of cooking. (You can also add them to rice)
For desserts you can add a pinch of the powder made from the seeds in the middle of the cooking.
It is used to add flavour to many dishes especially desserts like Halwa, Kheer, Kulfi etc. It is also an ingredients of the Garam Masala.
