Cardamom

Yet another curry spice that is as medicinal as it is delicious.  It's funny how I've been eating curry my entire life and never knew how wonderfully healthy it is!  I talked about turmeric in an earlier post; but the more I found out about turmeric, the more I found out about cardamom as well.

I found a variety of ways that people use cardamom medicinally.  Several Ayurveda and herbal medicine sources say that it helps digestion, circulation and halitosis.  There was at least one source that also said that it kills candida which is why I include it in my turmeric milk.  I admit I found it most interesting that several sources also say that it can actually fight cancer because turmeric was used for just that in the 20th century in the elixir Essiac.  I don't remember cardamom mentioned as a part of the recipe.  Then again, I found several recipes for Essiac (all of which included turmeric) and I'm not entirely sure which one was used by Rene Caisse; in other words, for all I know cardamom could have been an ingredient in the one that she used.

So cardamom is yet another spice that should be included in the diet.  Try it with your lentils, chick peas or if you are a carnivore like me, curry chicken and curry goat are also very yummy.  Apparently, on top of being yummy, they are also very, very healthy!