What Does Cardamom Taste Like?

Many ingredients go into cooking. The reason you add certain ingredients is so your food will retain a certain texture or taste.

Not all ingredients are created equal, however. Some of them do enhance the taste of your food, while others won’t do much for it.

It’s why it’s imperative for you to know what ingredients you are putting in your food.

This might make people wonder just what these ingredients taste like. One ingredient people might wonder about is cardamom.

In this article, we will discover what it is, how much it tastes, if you can eat it raw, and finally, the best ways to eat it.

What Is Cardamom?

Cardamom is a spice that comes from the ginger family and is mostly associated with Indian food.

Currently, this spice is produced by Guatemala the most out of all the countries in the world and is actually on the expensive side.

It’s the third most expensive spice in the world, behind only saffron and vanilla, so your wallet might not thank you for the purchase.

This spice comes in pod form but can be purchased in a seed or ground powder form. There are two different types of cardamom in total. One is green cardamom, which is more common than black cardamom.

The other type of cardamom is the black cardamom, which has a different flavor compared to the flavor of green cardamom is known.

Overall, cardamom is pretty healthy. It can help encourage your body to urinate and can even be used to help freshen your breath if you can believe it.

Recent studies have proved this, so if you find yourself with some bad breath, consider consuming some cardamom!

The best way to find cardamom is to look in either the spice or international aisle of your grocery store. Most grocery stores do have it, so you shouldn’t have much difficulty locating it in your particular area.

How Does Cardamom Taste?

Recall there are two types of cardamom: black and green cardamom. Black cardamom has a smoker taste when compared to green cardamom, whose flavor is considered to be overly sweet and savory.

The taste you are going for is going to depend on what you plan to cook ultimately.

If you are going for a dish that calls for a sweeter taste, then green cardamom is what you want to use.

Now if you want something that would work great with a smoky flavor, black cardamom is definitely what you want to go with.

It will be like you had smoked some meat on the grill when in reality, you did nothing of the sort!

Can You Eat Cardamom Raw?

You are aware that cardamon is used as a spice in many dishes, but what about eating it raw? It comes in pod form, so you might be wondering if the seeds or the pods themselves are even edible.

Well, we are happy to inform you that you can! It is perfectly safe to eat cardamom pods and seeds. The biggest drawback is that they can be hard to chew because they have a lot of fiber in them.

The point is it is perfectly safe to consume cardamom in its raw form or after it has been cooked and added to your food.

The way to eat it just depends on what you prefer. For example, the fact that it’s hard to chew might be a turn-off to some. Can’t blame them!

Ways To Use Cardamom

You know that cardamom is used in foods as a spice, but we wanted to list a few common foods and recipes out there where you can use cardamom. Think of it as a jumping-off point.

• Tea is a great simple way to take advantage of cardamom. Once you make your tea, throw some crushed-up cardamom in there, and it will give your tea a lovely flavor. It might be best to go with green cardamom because the smoky taste in your tea from black cardamom might be a little too much for some.
• Curry is a classic way to use cardamom. The reason for this is turmeric, another spice from the ginger family, is often used in curry. Since this is the case, it makes sense that you might add some cardamom in there to enhance the flavor or to use as a replacement should you not have turmeric on hand.
• Rice can sometimes be bland, and if you have white rice, you know this is true. You need to add something else to the rice to make it pop, and cardamom is a great spice to help infuse some flavor into your rice.
• Meat (Both red meat and poultry) already has some natural flavors, but it doesn’t mean you don’t want to add a couple of ingredients to give your tastebuds a treat. Using cardamom with the natural flavors that exist with meat is a great idea because they will fuse, making for a delicious meal.

Here you have four popular methods of using cardamom. This spice you never heard of can pack quite a punch and liven up your food.

When we say this, we mean both types of cardamon and not just one in particular.

Final Thoughts

And there we go, all you cardamom lovers out there! Now you know not only what Cardamomis are but also how this food tastes.

We also covered if you could eat it raw along with ways to cook it, so you’ll be able to cover all your bases depending on your preferences.

Believe it or not, you can get cardamom at your regular grocery store and even Walmart or Wholefoods if that is what is closest to you. Since it is a spice, you can find it in the spice aisle with all the other spices.

Hey, you never know when you will want to use it to liven up one of your meals, so next time you go out, consider picking some up. You will not be sorry!

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William Thomas

I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.