Cardamom: From Ancient Cure to Culinary Icon
The ‘queen of spices’ was known far and wide for millennia as a healing agent, but only a few mastered its taste.
According to legend, gods and demons — locked in an eternal struggle — joined forces to churn the primordial ocean in search of amrita, the nectar of immortality. As the great serpent Vasuki coiled around Mount Mandara and the gods pulled at his tail, the ocean yielded its secrets: the moon, the goddess Lakshmi, the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu, and cardamom.
The Indian subcontinent’s cardamom zone — the verdant hills of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu — has nurtured this spice for thousands of years. Yet, for millennia, many only knew it for its medicinal properties. Today, cardamom is much more than a healing agent, a recognizable flavor you can find in everything from lassi to Scandinavian cardamom buns. But its journey remains shrouded in mystery.