Cardamom’s The Word

Posted by Kate W on Thursday, June 21st, 2012

I have a food obsession. It’s not chocolate or butter or anything gooey or decadent; it’s just a little something that spices up my life nearly every day. I’m talking about cardamom.

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If you’ve ever had Indian food you know cardamom; it’s the spice that gives such a fragrant aroma to curries and chai. I don’t restrict my use of it to Indian dishes though. In my kitchen, cardamom is used in place of cinnamon to punch up applesauce or to liven up crème brulee French toast. For a savory twist, I’ve also paired it with sea salt and white pepper as a spice rub for a lovely piece of pork tenderloin that I pan seared before finishing it in the oven and serving it with an apple jus. I love cardamom so much in fact I even named my food blog after it.

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But while I knew I loved the taste and aroma of cardamom, I didn’t realize I’ve also been getting some serious health benefits from it. When used medicinally, cardamom is primarily used to treat stomach and digestive issues. Heartburn, intestinal spasms, constipation, intestinal gas, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can all be alleviated by cardamom. It also stimulates the metabolism, so can be a great tool for weight loss. It can even be used to help with loss of appetite (though I’ve never had that issue, particularly not when I know there’s cardamom in whatever meal I am being presented with). It can also be used to help ease symptoms associated with bronchitis and the common cold, including coughing and sore mouth and throat.

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Perhaps most intriguing to me is that cardamom may help with liver function as it serves as a liver cleanser. At my last physical, blood work indicated that I had elevated liver enzymes. Follow-up blood work confirmed it. Both rounds of blood work also found I had a vitamin D deficiency, so my doctor has me loading up on vitamin D supplements for 60 days so we can see if the two issues are related. In the meantime, I’ll also be stepping up my cardamom intake. It may or may not help matters, but it will certainly be delicious.

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