“The smell of freshly ground cardamom is strong and pungent, and it reminds me of eucalyptus or menthol,” said Nichole Accettola, whose new book, Scandinavian From Scratch: A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, hit shelves this week. Admittedly, it’s a difficult flavor to describe, defying easy categorization. Like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, cardamom is considered a “warming” spice—but, depending on who you talk to (and the variety of cardamom you’re tasting), it can just as easily be described as “peppery,” “smoky,” “citrusy,” “sweet,” “fresh,” “resinous,” or “floral.”
With origins in South India and grown today in India, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, the practice of using cardamom in cooking and medicine is not a new one. From the earliest recorded mention of the spice in Vedic texts from 3000 B.C. to its use as a perfume, aphrodisiac, and digestive aid in Ancient Greece and Rome, cardamom has, for the last thousand-or-so years, also maintained a stronghold in Scandinavia’s baking scene. “Historians trace its arrival in Scandinavia back to the Middle Ages, when the Moors settled in Spain and traders from the north got hold of the spice,” said Nichole. When used in baked goods, the spice “has a yellow citrusy (lemony-pomelo) pungency”—akin to lemon zest “but with even more depth in flavor.”