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Cardamon.........  

post #1 of 5
3/18/06 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
I had a recipe here while back that called for cardamon. David do you have any suggestions for a substitue for this spice.This stuff is expensive on the store shelves you would think they are selling saffron or something. I was thinking nutmeg or allspice am I in the ballpark?
post #2 of 5
3/18/06 at 12:54pm
CR,
I just wanted to note, the price is probably high because of the slow turnover in the grocery stores. This is a pretty common ingredient in bakeries and not so expensive,ground. If there is no sub.,you might just go and ask your local scratch bakery that does morning pastries and danish. We use it in all our danish and things of that area, danish cookies.. Pretty unique flavor. Kinda like champhor tea?sp?
pan

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post #3 of 5
3/18/06 at 3:33pm
CR, remember that Penzys is pretty reasonable on these items as well. Certainly more so than the local grocers and likely fresher as well. Also don't forget your local Indian grocers.
Sorry for the interruption, David.......
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post #4 of 5
3/18/06 at 4:16pm
Great advice all around. Cardamom is a common spice in Indian cooking and should be less expensive at Indian markets. But keep in mind that cardamom is the third most expensive flavoring in the world behind only saffron and vanilla. If you don't mind the work, whole cardamom pods will be less expensive than pre-ground cardamom. Scrape the seeds out of the pods (a laborious task--that's partly why pre-ground cardomom is so expensive) then grind the seeds yourself in a spice grinder, clean coffee mill, or with a mortar and pestle. The bonus: a fresher, more intense aroma. Also, the whole pods make a great flavor addition to simmering liquids for cooking rice, poaching fish or chicken, etc.

Nothing tastes quite like cardamom. It's a relative of ginger, but has a musky aroma alluded to by panini (in this thread). For a somewhat similar effect, you could use a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg (or cloves or allspice) as a replacement for ground cardamom in a 1:1 ratio. The substitute won't taste exactly like cardamom (the musky aroma will be missing), but you will be using similar "warm" spices in place of the cardamom and the recipe will not fail.
-Dave

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post #5 of 5
3/18/06 at 4:19pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks David. I will try that recipe with that ratio and see what happens. Thank you too Pan and CH. I have not eaten a lot of Indian foods so I am not familiar with it. I do use quite a bit of Cumin and Curry powder which is found quite frequently in some Mexican and Asian cusines.......
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