مدونة صيدلاوى

Indian woman harvesting cardamom   An Icelandic coffee shop down the street sells great coffee, and lovely buns. I just tasted one; sweet, harsh cardamom filled my mouth. This is not my native flavor: I don't believe my mother or grandmothers were aware of cardamom, the sweet/savory seed pod that grows on big-leafed bushes in the tropics. Despite my mother's adventurous tastes -- tinned pate (fresh pate, or even chopped liver, wasn't available in Kansas back in the day), crème brûlée and exotic reuben sandwiches -- we never had this spice in our kitchen. But my friend Richie's parents celebrated Russian Easter each year, and they served the marvelous cardamom infused Russian bread called Kulich. My first taste of the spice sparked a mix of revulsion and devotion that few other tastes have mimicked. Cardamom is a strange spice, a gad (good and bad) flavor that in the end steals your soul. It's one of the most expensive spices, by weight, but si...