Description
The “Queen of Spices” is the nickname given to cardamom—a spice used in both savory and sweet dishes. While it’s native to India, Sri Lanka is one of the main suppliers of both the white and green varieties. Cardamom is often found in curries, sambols, and also in spiced tea and is one of the most sought-after and expensive spices. The end product used in cooking is the dried seed pods. Cardamom is oblong, oval or oblate shapes fruit, 2–5 cm long, with faint longitudinal striations, roughly triangular in cross section. Each fruit has 3 chambers filled with small aromatic seeds, each about 3 mm long. Fruits and seeds dry to a straw-brown color. Fruit is normally pale green to yellow colored. Fruit is intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance and has strong, unique spicy-sweet taste. Seeds are normally small, 3 mm long, rugose, reddish brown to brownish black, and aromatic, with thin mucilaginous aril. It is a good source of minerals like potassium, calcium, sulfur, and magnesium along with iron and manganese. Further, it is rich in many vital vitamins; including riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin C. Listed below are some of the popular health benefits of consuming cardamom.
