Arabian Love Potion

I found a project last night.  I had asked my mother to identify everyone she could in this photo.

 She put a name to all but the three smaller children. They are her daddy’s kin folk, his sisters and his parents. Names like Scofield and Cromer, Hada Mozelle, Roy Earl. I love it! They are easier to find than the Elizabeth, Jane, Ann, Robert, George and Williams I have been running into. On the other hand it is fairly easy to track kin because of naming traditions. So running into a group of James, John, George and Robert Morgan is more likely to be mine after 6 generations of them than Isaac, Abraham, Paul and Marcus Morgan found 10 miles away. She wrote Belle on the photo. The only Belle I had was Dosie Bell who was actually I found out Dorothy Bell. Roy Earl was Earl and there in bold black script was a Junior.  He turned out to be Harold Junior. Ghosts…..

I baked  Lemon Cardamom cake on Saturday. Very yummy, moist and lemony, more the look of bread than cake, perhaps because I baked it in a loaf pan and made only half a recipe. I used a fresh lemon for the zest and juice. It asked for fresh ground cardamom. I had powder. Which brings me to …what is cardamom? 

I use it in almost everything I cook.

It comes from the same family as ginger. It is native to India, Nepal area. Guatemala is now the largest producer and exporter of the spice. It is the third costliest by weight spice in the world and follows saffron and vanilla.  It has a unique taste and is very aromatic. Cardamom is very popular in Nordic countries in the baking of breads and pastries. In the Middle East it is used to flavor teas and coffees where cardamom pods are ground in equal quantity to coffee beans. It is called elaichi as in Chai Tea.

Here is a surprise, the ground pods have been used to make gin.

 It is used to treat infections in the gums, teeth and throat, lung congestion and pulmonary tuberculosis, and digestive disorders, and as an antidote for snake and scorpion venom. Eating cardamom breaks up kidney and gall stones. It is a key ingredient to traditional Chinese, Persian, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese medicine.

Cardamom is the key ingredient in the love potions mentioned in Arabian Nights. Ancient Persians considered it an aphrodisiac.

So you see Lady Tamara  www.LairdOfLochaber.com believes Lemon Cardamom cake is health food. Chicken Masala for dinner! Need more Cardamom.