The word "cardamom" brings to mind the smells of Indian cuisine, Christmas gingerbread, delicious sausages or something else aromatic and tasty. But not everyone knows what kind of plant it is, where it comes from, as well as what useful properties and contraindications it has. This will be discussed further.
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Where did the fragrant herb come from?
In fact, cardamom is a perennial herb, a relative of ginger. True, this grass grows up to four meters high. All its parts from roots to seeds have a strong peculiar aroma. Plants belonging to the botanical genera Elettaria and Amomum are considered true cardamoms.
Elettaria - green on the right and Amomum - black on the left
Their homeland is South India. Nowadays, plants are also cultivated in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Guatemala, where it is grown on plantations. The first flowering and fruiting of young plants occurs only in the third year after planting the seedlings in a permanent place. The harvest of cardamom lasts only six to ten years.
Compound fruits, collected like the cobs, are harvested still immature, because, when ripe, the capsules crack, the seeds contained in them spill out. Further, the fruits are dried, sorted by size and color, bleached and sent to consumers.
Green cardamom is considered more valuable and expensive in all three of its varieties - Mysore, Malabar and Vajuk. It has a stronger and more complex, even slightly resinous aroma.
Black, Javanese, Bengal, Siamese, red varieties - all these are the fruits of plants of the Amomym genus, growing in the tropics of Asia and Australia. They have a milder taste and smell.
Green and black are so different that they cannot be substitutes for one another when preparing dishes.
Cardamom in vivo: examples in the photo
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- Plant in vivo
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- Cardamom flower
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- Cardamom fruit
Beneficial features
The use of cardamom in food, beverage, and baked goods is well known. Much less is known about the fact that essential oils, fats, numerous chemical elements, vitamins, including group B, ascorbic acid, proteins, sugars, starch, and gum contained in the spice. They are in such a combination that they can have a beneficial healing effect on the human body. This property of cardamom has been used since ancient times to the present day in the countries of the East, in India, China for the treatment of various diseases.
When using a spice, such body functions are enhanced as:
- strengthening immunity;
- secretion of gastric juice and metabolic processes;
- the activity of the nervous system, including brain cells;
- general tone.
In addition, it cleanses the body, removing toxins, toxins, excess fluid, relieves constipation, and also fights against pathogenic intestinal microflora.
At the same time, it is an antiseptic, has an anti-inflammatory effect, which is used in the treatment of colds, respiratory diseases, skin diseases, including dermatitis, as well as ailments of the genitourinary system.
Not everyone likes the scent of cardamom
The use of the spice can reduce the level of stress, get rid of fatigue, heart pain, improve skin condition, normalize sleep and digestion, get rid of heartburn, constipation and flatulence, freshen breath, and lose weight easier.
Cardamom is an active aphrodisiac. It is used to treat various sexual disorders, including male impotence, frigidity of women.
The spice contains a lot of manganese, which is usually deficient in people with diabetes. Regular use as a tea supplement makes up for the lack of luck.
For women
Spices during pregnancy are usually not recommended for use in order to protect the baby from allergies
For ladies, the spice will also be useful to restore the functioning of the central nervous system during menstruation and help get rid of the symptoms of menopause.
There is no consensus among doctors regarding the use of cardamom during pregnancy. Some consider it acceptable and even useful as a remedy against toxicosis, and also has a sedative effect. Doctors who disagree with this fear a negative effect on the fetus, which could cause an allergic reaction in the child.
When breastfeeding, pediatricians definitely exclude the use of cardamom by the mother, at least until the baby is three months old, since the digestive system has not yet been fully formed in newborns.
For children
The opinions of experts regarding the use of children also differ dramatically. Some include the product in the list of absolute contraindications, others recommend using the spice for diarrhea in a child and even for disinfecting milk bought on the market.
Contraindications to the use of cardamom
There are a number of conditions in the body when the use of a fragrant spice should be completely excluded. The list of such cases includes:
- gallbladder disease, pancreatitis;
- a stomach or duodenal ulcer;
- acidity gastritis;
- hypertension or a tendency to a sharp increase in blood pressure;
- individual intolerance.
In many people, cardamom causes severe allergic reactions. Therefore, using it for the first time, one must be very careful, and in case of individual intolerance to the product, completely exclude its use.
Be very careful when including spice in the diet of a child, especially a young child. You should also not abuse the use of this spice.
Spice treatment
Cardamom lovers often do not even know how many health troubles their habit of using this spice relieves.
Invigorating tea from Julia Vysotskaya
You can also use cardamom for the targeted treatment of many ailments, but you should not forget about the existing contraindications for its use. It will not be superfluous to consult with your doctor.
Magic tea
With a cold
For the treatment of broncho-pulmonary diseases, clearing the sinuses from excess mucus, many recipes recommend using cardamom. One of the tips received from Indian yogis is tea for colds.
Yogi tea
Ingredients:
- cardamom - 9 grains;
- cloves - 7 pieces;
- grated ginger root - 0.5 teaspoon;
- cinnamon - 1 stick the size of the index finger;
- water - 0.5 liters.
All ingredients are placed in boiling water and heated for another five minutes. They drink it warm in a bite with honey, not only for colds, but also for flu conditions, and to relieve fatigue.
Tea for the prevention of influenza
Tea with cardamom
Ingredients:
- low-fat milk - 0.5 liters;
- water - 0.5 liters;
- cloves - 10 pieces;
- cardamom - 10 pieces;
- fresh ginger in pieces - 1 tablespoon;
- ground nutmeg - half a teaspoon;
- green tea - 2 teaspoons.
Tea is prepared in an enamel bowl. The water is heated, cardamom, cloves and tea are added even before boiling. Milk is poured into the boiled broth and ginger is put. When the liquid is boiled again, add nutmeg powder and keep it on low heat for another 3-4 minutes. They drink both warm and cold.
Inhalation with oil
A nebulizer can be used for inhalation
The procedure is very useful for relieving sore throat and other cold symptoms. To carry out it, use 1-2 drops of cardamom essential oil, which are brought into the hot water of the inhaler bowl or into an ordinary cup of boiling water, cover the head with a towel and inhale the healing steam.
Getting rid of flatulence
To get rid of this problem, traditional medicine recommends simply chewing four to ten grains of cardamom throughout the day.
With severe flatulence, Remheld syndrome, a heart disease caused by high pressure in the diaphragm, can occur. To eliminate it, tea is useful, the recipe for which is given below.
Healing tea
For flatulence, cardamom tea can be used as an aid
Ingredients:
- water - 250 ml;
- cardamom - 20 g;
- cumin - 20 g;
- fennel - 10 g.
Put all the ingredients in boiled water and boil for three minutes, filter. Drink a drink as needed, 200 ml at a time.
Cardamom and blood pressure
As mentioned earlier, the spice is completely contraindicated for people suffering from hypertension or who have a tendency to high blood pressure. On the contrary, it is useful for hypotonics. It can be consumed in the form of tea, prepared at least according to the recipe below. This drink improves blood circulation, brings pressure back to normal.
Low pressure tea is allowed to be consumed in small quantities
Ingredients:
- cardamom seeds - 1 teaspoon;
- ground ginger - 0.5 teaspoon;
- cinnamon powder - 1 teaspoon;
- black tea - 2 g or a bag;
- milk - half a glass;
- water - 1 glass;
- honey to taste.
To prepare a drink, tea leaves and spices are poured with a glass of boiling water. When it cools a little, add honey and milk. Drink the drink 1-2 times throughout the day.
To get rid of impotence
Traditional healers recommend in this state to drink a glass of hot milk at night, adding a pinch of cardamom powder and honey to taste.
Tincture for prostatitis
Tincture of cardamom should be consumed in moderation, no more than one glass per day
For the treatment of diseases of men with prostatitis and prostate adenoma, medicinal tinctures with cardamom are prepared.
Tincture 1
Ingredients:
- cardamom seeds - 1 teaspoon;
- vodka - half a liter;
- sugar - 2 teaspoons.
Powdered grains are poured into a vessel with vodka and kept at room temperature in a dark place for 14 days. Then sugar is dissolved in tincture. Before going to bed, drink about 50 grams of tincture daily.
Tincture 2
Ingredients:
- cardamom seeds - 2 tablespoons;
- vodka - 1.5 liters;
- sugar - 150 grams.
The seeds are pounded in a mortar or crushed in another way. They are poured with vodka, allowed to brew for 21 days, filtered, sugar is added. Take 30-40 grams half an hour before bedtime or add the same amount of tincture to tea.
Lose weight with cardamom
As a regulator of the digestive system and a purifier of the body from toxins and excess fluid, cardamom is recommended to be used in nutrition for weight loss. This use of the spice was already known in ancient India. There, obese people were advised to season their food with this spice.This advice is appropriate today, if there are no contraindications to the use of seasoning in food. More often, for the purpose of losing weight, we drink teas with cardamom. You can brew them according to several recipes.
The simplest tea
The simplest tea - and so many benefits!
For it, use only cardamom and boiling water in the ratio of 1 teaspoon of spice grains to a glass of water. Brewed like regular tea, infused for 10-15 minutes. They drink such an infusion half an hour before meals for no more than two weeks. Using such a drink for weight loss, you should give up alcohol, smoking and coffee.
Green tea with spice
To prepare it, half a teaspoon of cardamom seeds and a tablespoon of green tea are steamed in a thermos overnight. Use the infusion as a tea brew, diluting it with hot boiled water. Drink this tea before meals 20 minutes before eating. It is recommended to drink two to four glasses of the drink per day.
Tea with cardamom, hibiscus and ginger
The drink with cardamom, hibiscus and ginger has a ruby color and a unique aroma
Ingredients:
- cardamom grain - 0.5 teaspoon;
- ground ginger - 0.5 teaspoon;
- hibiscus - 1 tablespoon;
- green tea - 1 tablespoon;
- water - 300 milliliters.
All ingredients are steamed with boiling water overnight. 17 ml of infusion is diluted with hot water and drunk before meals.
Arabic coffee
Arabic coffee is useful for losing weight, but contraindicated for hypertensive patients
Useful for weight loss Arabic coffee with cardamom. The drink will invigorate, cheer up, warm you in the cold. You can add lemon or cream to it, spices such as cinnamon, vanilla. When losing weight, Arabian coffee will help overcome the desire to eat something inappropriate, while the aromatic spice will help remove toxins and speed up metabolism, which in turn boosts fat burning. At the same time, it neutralizes the effects of caffeine on the body.
To make Arabic coffee, you will need:
- ground coffee - 3 teaspoons;
- water - 120 ml;
- cardamom beans - 2-3 pieces;
- sugar - 0.5 teaspoon.
The cardamom kernels are lightly flattened in a mortar or two teaspoons. The Turku is preheated over a fire, sugar is added, spreading it over the bottom, then spice and coffee are added, everything is poured with cold water. Three times the drink is allowed to froth and fall when the Turk is removed from the fire, and at the end the drink is allowed to stand for 1-2 minutes. During this time, a cup is heated with boiling water and, pouring out the water, fill it with a drink.
If there is no spice in the beans, but only powder, the only difference in the preparation of the drink will be that the spice is added to the coffee after removing it from the heat. Sometimes it is advised to mix dry coffee with cardamom powder.
Reviews of people who have experienced the effects of cardamom
I learned a lot from the article, I'll start with the fact that a 26-year-old son came home from work with terrible headaches and was all boiled and immediately went to bed. measured the pressure, it turned out to be 120/85, everything seemed to be in order, but even from work I had to take his friend to the car, and remembered that she had brought a box of cardomone from Pyatigorsk, made tea for my son and went to the garden, and now a miracle I come home, but it turns out , just a miracle happened! After 15 minutes, not a trace of sores remained, thanks to cardamom!
By the way, good afternoon, I drink green tea with cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, it has an energetic effect on the whole body, especially before going to work + it has a good effect on the skin of the face, at 36 I look 25.
5We sell cardamom in two "forms" - ground and whole fruits. I usually buy dried whole fruits from the market, on trays with various spices. It costs quite a lot, the price of a small glass is 50 rubles. If the ground is well put in various baked goods, then I buy whole grains exclusively for tea. On a teapot with a volume of 600 ml, I put 6-7 fruits, having previously "opened" them. Inside the fruit there are small dark seeds. Tea, even the most ordinary one, acquires a wonderful aroma and invigorating taste.It is also good to put it in coffee, it gives a sweet-spicy aroma and softens the effect of caffeine. In addition to being a pleasant spice, it also belongs to medicinal plants, and among many peoples it is considered a cure for many ailments. Personally, the usual one helps me well with colds and coughs.
Advantages: aromatic, natural, very useful, healthy Cardamom was a discovery for me! I came across an interesting description of this spice on the Internet and decided to taste it myself. Moreover, it is considered one of the most valuable and expensive spices in the world, which is also called "heavenly grain". I really love coffee. It turns out that the spice not only adds an amazing aroma to coffee (tea), but also reduces the harmful effects of caffeine on the body. And the seeds of this spice stimulate and accelerate metabolic processes in the body, which helps to lose weight faster, remove toxins and toxins. I sometimes like to add to coffee along with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, and less often and dried crushed ginger. The aroma is incredible !!!…. State - "Let the whole world wait!" Relaxation alternating with the desire to live and act. I highly recommend trying it, especially since it can be added to food by grinding the grains in a mortar. Here is such a small miracle in one grain!
It made me think on every trip to buy myself some delicious coffee. So I did not pass by my vacation in Egypt. I decided to buy coffee there, but not simple, but with some kind of flavor - a la east. As a result, coffee with cardamom caught my eye at Duty Free. The label looked pretty civilized and attractive. A bag of 200 grams was not directly expensive ($ 5). In general, I bought myself coffee - I thought I could enjoy oriental coffee at home. But no. Of course, I can imagine what cardamom tastes like, but that it can spoil the taste of coffee so much - I had no idea. Opening the vacuum bag, the aroma of coffee mixed with spice immediately hit my nose. Although he didn't even smell like her. It smelled like cologne. I decided to try it. I bought it for a reason. After cooking, for a long time I tried to taste and understand the zest of the taste. But no, I can't master and half is not mine. Better to drink coffee from burnt beans than this one. I do not advise. I do not recommend it very much.
How to apply for beauty
With all the breadth and variety of known areas of application of cardamom, it will be unexpected news for many that it is quite actively used in cosmetology, moreover, even at home, and not only in perfumes, creams and other products. Although this use of the spice is quite understandable by its disinfecting, antiseptic, tonic effect on the skin condition. In addition, the spice is hypoallergenic and does not cause irritation. As a part of various cosmetic preparations, oils for massage and rubbing, cardamom:
- cleanses the skin;
- increases tissue elasticity;
- stimulates cell renewal;
- deodorizes the skin;
- relieves rheumatic, muscle and joint pain;
- relaxes muscles after exercise;
- counteracts the appearance of cellulite and helps to fight it.
Most often, cardamom is included in cosmetics in the form of an essential oil or seed extract.
Cardamom essential oil has a strong spicy scent
It should not be forgotten that cosmetics made with spice essential oils should not be used by women during pregnancy and children under seven years of age.
Home cosmetics with cardamom
Having cardamom essential oil, it is not difficult to make some cosmetics with it yourself and carry out procedures that are beneficial for the skin.
Cosmetic mask for face and neck
Ingredients:
- cream - 1 tablespoon;
- cardamom oil - 5 drops;
- rose oil - 5 drops;
- avocado oil - 5 drops;
- almond oil - 5 drops.
All ingredients are mixed and the mask is applied to the face and neck for 20 minutes, rinse off the remains with warm water.
Nourishing mask
Ingredients:
- cardamom oil - 3 drops;
- avocado oil - 2 drops;
- rose oil - 5 drops;
- almond oil - 3 drops.
The mixture of oils is applied to cleansed face skin, keep until completely absorbed. If not everything is absorbed, remove the residues with a paper towel.
To improve the oval of the face
Ingredients:
- cardamom oil - 3 drops;
- rose water - 5 drops;
- almond oil - 1 teaspoon.
The mixture of ingredients is applied to the face for 10 minutes, then washed off. Almond oil can be substituted for avocado oil in the same amount.
Anti-cellulite massage blend
Ingredients:
- cardamom oil - 10 drops;
- olive oil - 30 g;
- tea tree oil - 10 drops.
The mixture is massaged problem areas until it is completely absorbed.
Relaxing massage composition
10 grams of massage base, which can be used as olive oil, is mixed with 5 drops of cardamom oil and slightly warmed. The composition is rubbed into problem areas until it is completely absorbed.
The same mixture is used in the same way not only to relieve muscle, joint and rheumatic pains, fatigue after physical exertion, but also as an anti-cellulite agent and to massage problem areas while losing weight.
Now, knowing about the use of cardamom not only in cooking, but also for medicinal purposes, you will be able to fully use all the positive qualities of this spice. Just do not get carried away, remember the existing contraindications to use both in food and in treatment, and do not forget, when starting to use cardamom for healing, take into account the recommendations of your doctor.
