The Ginger Spice Seeds: Cardamom and Grains of Paradise
Cardamom was used in the preparation of medicines in the early centuries BCE. The fifth-century BCE Ayurveda texts (a Hindu system of medicine) described cardamom as a cure for urinary problems, a means of removing fat from the body and a treatment for piles and jaundice.73 One of these texts was the Indian Sanskrit Charaka Samhita (written between the second century BCE and the second century CE), wherein cardamom was referred to as a component of some medicines.74
Cardamom was imported to Rome and Greece in the last few centuries BCE, though, as already shown, the Romans didn’t know where it came from.
It was only rarely referred to by Apicius. It was listed in the Alexandrian Tariff as ‘Antomum’ and was probably imported in small quantities and perhaps used more in perfumes than cuisine.75 There is only a single Indian archaeological record of cardamom – from excavations in early historic Pattanam (Muziris).Cardamom (or grains of paradise) was listed amongst the spices left by the venerable Bede to his brethren.76 European spicers of the Middle Ages used cardamom and other spices to flavour drinks, especially after the Crusades, when a greater variety of spices appeared. Nonetheless, it remained scarce in medieval European cuisine relative to many other spices and appears infrequently in recipes of the era.
Guatemala is the biggest commercial producer of cardamom today. It is a common ingredient in Indian cookery – green cardamom is used in traditional Indian sweets and masala chai; black cardamom is sometimes used in garam masala for curries and in basmati rice and other dishes. Cardamom is popular in the Middle East in sweet and savoury dishes and as a flavouring agent in drinks, especially tea and coffee. The cardamom coffee ghawa is a traditional beverage in Arab culture and a symbol of hospitality.
It is also used in pickling vegetables, with sauerkraut and in vegetable soups. It is also commonly used in baking, e.g. in Danish pastries, gingerbread and coffee cakes.Cardamom Coffee
Ingredients
Unroasted Arabica coffee beans (or buy roasted, or ground).
4 heaped teaspoons of ground coffee will be sufficient for two cups
1 tablespoon ground cardamom seeds
Sugar to taste
Ground cloves
Water
Method
Roast coffee beans to taste, 165 to 210°C (or use roasted or ground beans).
Grind coffee beans.
Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods and grind finely.
Boil water in a dallah (a small saucepan will do), remove from heat and then turn heat down to low/medium.
Add the coffee to the water and return to the stove and let coffee brew for 10 minutes or so (don’t bring to the boil again).
Remove the pan from the heat, allow the coffee to settle, then add the ground cardamom (with cloves if desired).
Return coffee to the stove and bring almost to the boil.
Remove and let stand for a few minutes (the grounds will settle at the base of the dallah/pan).
Serve directly, or strain and serve.
Serve with dates or sweet pastries. The cardamom takes the edge off the bitterness of the coffee, making a smooth and pleasant drink with a delicious aroma.
The closely related black cardamom has similar-shaped, but larger, pods. The natural aroma is often overpowered by the smell of smoke as wood fires are typically used to dry the pods. Black cardamom is mainly used for savoury dishes in South Asian cuisine and is also used in traditional medicine. Grains of Paradise
The spice was popular during the Middle Ages and early modern period but has long since fallen out of popularity. Transport to Europe from West Africa was by camel train through the Sahara Desert and thence to Italy, or by ship. It was quite expensive, too – 1s 6d per lb – based on the costs for the 1483 coronation feast of Richard III (more than black pepper).
The price in England actually seems to have been quite variable – cheap in the thirteenth century, just 3d or 4d per lb (based on limited data), but becoming expensive in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.77 In the latter part of the fifteenth century, Portuguese traders started to exploit the spice along the West African coast. The sudden abundance led to a steep decline in black pepper prices in Lisbon – and the fall in grains of paradise prices in the late fifteenth century.78Archaeobotanical evidence is scarce; Julian Wiethold described Aframomum m. from the fourteenth- to sixteenth-century latrines in Kiel, Germany, and other North German locations.79 Based on Wiethold’s earlier work, Greig reevaluated specimens from a fifteenth-century latrine in Worcester as Aframomum m. and also sixteenth-century material from Taunton.80 Greig notes that grains of paradise have been historically recorded from the thirteenth century, but seem to have gone out of use in the seventeenth century.
After the plant was introduced into South America, it was cultivated in Surinam and Guyana.81 In the nineteenth century, it was used to adulterate drinks to give the impression of strength, and is now used as a botanical in some gins as well as a spice and condiment. It is also used as a local African folk medicine for various purposes.
The explosion of use of the ginger family spices in medieval times is an interesting phenomenon as it followed on from the collapse of the western Roman Empire. As catastrophic as it was for Rome, trade between the East and West didn’t stop, but it certainly changed …