Cardamom and Chocolate

[ltimmis80]

The other night I decided, on a whim, to make some chocolate mousse. I had never tried to make chocolate mousse before but I was feeling adventurous so I picked up the whisk and got busy. Whilst I was melting the chocolate in the pan, I suddenly remembered reading, a while back, that cardamom and chocolate are in fact unlikely bed fellows. Well it just so happens that I was stood right next to my spice rack, so it would have been rude not to.

I crushed up a couple of pods with the pestle and mortar, threw them in with mix and heated it up. I poured the mixture into little bowls, popped them in the fridge and eagerly awaiting the results.

Unfortunately, the actual mousse sides of things was a bit of a disaster (I blame the quantity of cream). I left the bowls in the fridge for well over an hour and there was no sign of the little devils setting. Eventually I gave up, cut my loses and decided to just eat the gloopy slop anyway. What's the worse that could happen?!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, what did happen was a taste revolution. Although the consistency was more like soup than mousse the taste was amazing! I think now I shall never eat chocolate without cardamom again.

Please, please try it if you haven't already. You will not regret the experience.

Enjoy

Laura x x x

[Smithy]

That does sound tasty. Thanks for the tip!

[Rebecca263]

sounds good, it IS good in hot cocoa- I make my cocoa with just water, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt, and sometimes I add cardamom, as if the cocoa is a coffee.

[Shel_B]

I'd like to make this chocolate pudding recipe and add some cardamom to it.  Should green or black pods be used?  Is there an established norm for this and similar situations.  Also, should eliminate the vanilla if using the cardamom?

[Chocolot]

7 hours ago, Shel_B said:

I'd like to make this chocolate pudding recipe and add some cardamom to it.  Should green or black pods be used?  Is there an established norm for this and similar situations.  Also, should eliminate the vanilla if using the cardamom?

 

I accidentally bought a whole bottle of black cardamom pods. Bad mistake! They are black because they have been smoked. They smell like a bonfire. I'm sure someone might enjoy them, but not me:)

[liuzhou]

18 minutes ago, Chocolot said:

 

I accidentally bought a whole bottle of black cardamom pods. Bad mistake! They are black because they have been smoked. They smell like a bonfire. I'm sure someone might enjoy them, but not me:)

 

Black cardamoms have uses where they are perfect. Curries, Chinese hotpots and even with coffee. Don't dismiss them completely.

 

But with chocolate, no.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The book I'm reading, Dandelion & Quince, has an inviting recipe for black cardamom and daikon.  I'd use white pods in a chocolate pudding.

 

[Anna N]

On the other hand click.

[DianaB]

From memory because I only have green cardoon to hand the black variety is an entirely different item.  Wikipedia seems to confirm this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamom

 

Certainly the seeds of green cardamom go well with chocolate.  They can also be infused in dairy products to make ice-cream along the lines of kulfi:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulfi

 

Personally I have only ever used black cardamom in savoury recipes.

 

So glad you enjoyed your experiment @ltimmis80, it can be so tempting to discard things that don't turn out as we hope and as you have shown something that doesn't perhaps set as desired can still give pleasure.   

[Bentley]

Is anyone familiar with the chocolatier Cacao and Cardamom in Houston?  Annie Rupani is a Texan with Pakistani roots.  She has a lot of interesting flavors, including one with cardamom.  

[blue_dolphin]

I usually use black cardamom for savory dishes but I can imagine its smoky flavor working with chocolate.  In much the same way that chipotle peppers can work with chocolate.  I think would be interesting and a bit unexpected so it depends on what you are going for.

 

 

[paulraphael]

I'm not sure I've ever met a flavor that didn't go with cardamom. It's one of my not-very-secret weapons. Putting cardamom on it around here is like putting a bird on it in Portland.

[pastrygirl]

On 5/10/2017 at 10:44 AM, Bentley said:

Is anyone familiar with the chocolatier Cacao and Cardamom in Houston?  Annie Rupani is a Texan with Pakistani roots.  She has a lot of interesting flavors, including one with cardamom.  

 

I met her in Melissa Coppel's class back in September!  Lovely woman, really passionate. 

[jmacnaughtan]

9 hours ago, paulraphael said:

I'm not sure I've ever met a flavor that didn't go with cardamom. It's one of my not-very-secret weapons. Putting cardamom on it around here is like putting a bird on it in Portland.

 

Cheese.

[paulraphael]

10 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

Cheese.

 

Huh. I make a dessert with pears, cherry, cognac, goat cheese, and cardamom. I think the flavors are great together.

[jmacnaughtan]

14 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

Huh. I make a dessert with pears, cherry, cognac, goat cheese, and cardamom. I think the flavors are great together.

 

They may be.  But you've got some big flavours jousting on that dessert...  I'd be interested to see how you put them together.

 

In any case, my problem with cardamom is that it tends to be way too powerful.  In the original recipe for this topic, the poster uses "a couple" of cardamom pods for a chocolate mousse, which seems an enormous quantity.  If I was doing it, I would take it down to just one or two of the seeds within the pods.  You'd still get the aroma, but without that mouth-wash astringency.