cardamom pods

Cardamom science – What is its flavour made of?

Every time we make a flavourful Indian butter chicken or spicy taco mixture, I’m surprised by the power of spices. Combining them well can create such a depth of flavour, that would have been almost impossible to achieve with an artificial can of flavour. Cardamom especially is one of those spices that adds a chunk of flavour.

Spices, just like herbs (e.g. basil), are amazing flavour bombs. They combine a lot of flavour molecules to create beautiful palettes, often a lot more complex than what we as humans can artificially make.

And all of this comes from a plant, naturally grown in nature. But the chemistry behind it is amazing. About time we honor them appropriately, starting with cardamom here.

Where cardamom comes from

Cardamom has been used in food and medicine for thousands of years. Proof of that has been found in ancient Indian writings for instance. Even nowadays, India is a major user and producer of cardamom. Interestingly enough though, nowadays Guatemala is the world’s largest cardamom producer, even though cardamom is not native to the country. Cardamom was only introduced to Guatemala in the 20th century!

Cardamom is one of the more expensive spices (by weight) in the world. A major reason for that is that harvest is still done largely by hand. The plants grow long stalks on which the cardamom pods grow. These then have to be picked by hand. Once picked, these fresh cardamom pods spoil very rapidly. They have to be cleaned and dried as quickly as possible. This makes logistics even more complicated.

Once dried though, cardamom pods can be kept for a very long time. The only further processing required at this point is sorting by size. At that point, you have the standard dried cardamom pod.

This video shows the major steps in cardamom production. It’s a 10-minute video so if you can’t speak the language of the narrator, you might want to play it at high speed.

Two types of cardamom

There are two types of cardamom, generally called black (Amomum costatum and Amomum subulatum) and green (Elettaria cardamomum) or large and small cardamom. They are closely related, but differ slightly in their composition.

Chemistry of cardamom

Cardamom has a lot of flavor hidden within its seeds inside that hull. Chemists have analyzed which chemical components are actually present in the highest quantities and two jump out. However, that does not mean that those molecules themselves will smell like cardamom. It’s the mixture of components that makes cardamom ‘real’ cardamom.

The flavors of cardamom sit in its oily phase that only makes up a few percent of the cardamom. The rest is made out of starches, fibers, some proteins, moisture and some minor ingredients. Of most importance for flavor are the flavor molecules within that oily phase. This is also the reason that a lot of extracts of spices are oil-based, or alcohol-based (e.g. vanilla extract).

1,8-cineole

Which molecule is most prevalent in cardamom depends on the type of cardamom analyzed as well as its age. One of the two most common molecules (in black cardamom) is 1,8-cineole, also called eucalyptol. As you might expect, this is the main component of eucalyptus oil and is also present in a lot of other aromatic spices and leaves!

The chemical structure of eucalyptol, from Wikipedia.

α-Terpinyl acetate

Within green cardamom another major flavour molecule is alpha-terpinyl. This molecule is commonly used in lavender oils.

A lot of spices contain similar ingredients, but in different quantities and ratios. Both cinnamon and cumin for instance contain similar components, but the slightly different mix changes the overall taste.

rice pudding ice cream
Cardamom works well in ice cream as well! This is an ice cream made of sweet rice!

Using cardamom

You can buy cardamom in three major formats:

  1. Pods: the natural husk of the cardamom is still around the cardamom seeds in the center. These husks aren’t suitable for eating. In most cases you’ll break the husk to remove the pods or you leave the husk with seeds to soak until removing the husk from your food/drink.
  2. Seeds: within the pods you’ll fine small cardamom seeds. These are the little flavour bombs.
  3. Powders: by grinding down the seeds you’ll get cardamom powder. The major disadvantage of grinding down the seeds, as is the case for any spice, is that the flavour will degrade more quickly over time. It has a larger surface area over which to escape.

In all these cases the flavours are still trapped within the oil. However, oxygen has more access to the oils if they’re more open to the environment. This can lead to degradation of the flavours over time.

Storing cardamom

Due to its green colour cardamom should be protected from light during storage. If not, it will lose its green colour and turn yellow. Otherwise cardamom is pretty stable since its flavours are stored within those sturdy seeds within.

cardamom pods

Cardamom in European countries

Cardamom is used in a wide variety of cuisines. Indian and Asian cuisines especially utilizes it frequently for a wide variety for dishes, both savoury and sweet. However, did you know that in Europe, overall more moderate cardamom users, there are a few true cardamom loving countries? You might be surprised to learn which countries that are.

The Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Finland (legend goes it came through the Vikings, although proof of that is quite scarce)! And most of that cardamom isn’t used in savoury dishes. Instead, the cardamom is used in sweet pastries and breads! Other big European countries into cardamom that you wouldn’t necessarily associate them with: Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Here the cardamom is mostly used for Christmas time baking and cookies.

So, to close off, we’ll share a Swedish recipe featuring a good dose of cardamom: kardemummabullar.

kardamummabullar in muffin tray

Kardamummabullar

Yield: 12 breads
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

These delicious kardemummabullar are based on a recipe from a Great British Bake Off contestant. The recipe makes 12 bread rolls. They are only slightly sweet (a lot less sweet that 'regular' cinnamon rolls) and fill you up quite well.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 190g milk
  • 35g unsalted butter
  • 25g vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower or canola)
  • 425g bread flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cardamom powder
  • 45g honey
  • 1 tsp dried yeast
  • 1 egg

Spice nut filling

  • 35g unsalted butter
  • 25g finely chopped almonds
  • 10g brown sugar
  • 15g granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp cardamom powder

Chocolate creme patisserie filling

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 25g granulated sugar
  • 15g plain flour
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 100g milk
  • 35g dark chocolate in small pieces

Sugar syrup

  • 1 tsbp maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • few drops of vanilla extract
  • seeds from 2 cardamom pods

Instructions

Dough

  1. Add milk and butter to a pot (or bowl) and gently heat on the stove top (or microwave) until the butter is has softened and the warm is luke warm. Be careful not to overheat or the milk might kill the yeast!
  2. Once the milk is luke warm, mix all the ingredients for th edough together and mix for several minutes in a stand mixer until the dough is soft and stretchy. It should not be sticky.
  3. Cover your bowl (e.g. with a plate or shower cap) and leave the dough to rise until approximately doubled in size. This can take anywhere from45 - 90 minutes, depending on the temperature. If the dough is rising too quickly, you might want to use 1/4 tsp of yeast less next time.

Nut spice filling

  1. Warm the butter up until softened completely, it should be easy to mix, but does not have to be completely liquid. Blend all other ingredients for the spice nut filling through and set aside. If it sets too hard once you want to use it, just re-heat it in a microwave for a few seconds.

Chocolate filling

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar. Add the flour and corn starch and mix into a stiff paste.
  2. In a separate pot, bring the milk to the boil.
  3. Gently pour a little of the hot milk over the egg mixture while whisking continuously. Once the egg mixture has loosened, slowly pour in the rest of the hot milk until all is incorporated.
  4. Pour the mix back into the pot and, while whisking continuously bring it back to the heat and continue heating on a medium heat until it starts thickening. Take it off the heat and continue whisking while adding in the chocolate (do not add the chocolate sooner or it will have a chance of bruning the whole mixture). The chocolate will melt into the mix, the smaller you've chopped it, the faster that goes.
  5. Leave to cool.

Assembling the rolls

  1. Lightly spray a muffin tray with 12 holes.
  2. Roll your dough into a rectangle, about 0,5 cm thick, about 40 x 30 cm in size. On half of the dough, spread out the nut spice filling. On the other half, spread out the creme patisserie filling (don't try doing it on the same half, it will be a lot harder to spread out). Leave an edge of about 0,5cm free of filling on the outside.
  3. Fold the dough in half so the two separate fillings sit on top of one another. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle, it won't double in size anymore, but turn out to be about 25 x 35cm.
  4. Cut the dough into 12 long thin strip, each with a width of about 2 cm. Use the back of a small knife to do so. Now, using that same knife cut the strand in two strands again, but leave the to part, about 2-3 cm, attached.
  5. Roll the individual strands up (see image below).
  6. rolling kardamummabullar dough
  7. Now roll these rolled up strands around the top attached section. It's easiest to do these one by one.
  8. Place each 'ball of wool' dough into the mufin tray.
  9. Leave to raise for another 30-45 minutes. When you poke them, the dough should come back.
  10. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C (375F) for 15-20 minutes, until they're a golden brown.

Syrup

  1. To sweeten the buns up slightly, they aren't very sweet of themselves, prepare a syrup by mixing all ingredients in a pot and gently heating it on the stove, over a low heat. All it has to do is mix and become a little less viscous.
  2. Turn off the heat. It's best to leave it for a few minutes so the cardamom flavour can infuse into the syrup.
  3. Pour the syrup over the buns (best to do this whilet hey still in the tins so the syrup doesn't get everywhere).

Sources

Bhandari, A.K., Bisht, V.K., Negi, J.S., Baunthiyal, M, 1, 8-Cineole: A predominant component inthe essential oil oflarge cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.), Journal of medicinal plants research, Vol. 7(26), pp. 1957-1960, 10 July, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/JMPR2013.5131, link

CBI Ministry of foreign affairs, Exporting cardamom to Europe, link

Compound interest, Chemical compounds in herbs and spices, 2014, link

Falkowitz, M., Meet the Farmer Shaking Up the Guatemalan Cardamom Trade, Nov-28. 2018, Saveur, link ; an article describing the current situation in Guatemala for growing cardamom with beautiful accompanying photos

Peter, K.V., Handbook of herbs and spices, 2006, volume 3, table I-7, link

Rhen, K., Kardemumma, 12-Jul-2008, Hallands Nyheter, link

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