Cardamom Black Pepper

Cardamom is perhaps best known in because of its addition to Chai drinks and Indian food. It is native to the monsoon forests of India and Sri Lanka, but is cultivated throughout tropical Asia.

The unique, delicate cardamom flavor jump started my imagination into creating new a ice cream flavor. I steeped the green cardamom pods in the warm cream to enhance the vanilla bean flavor. I added black pepper for a surprise texture and color, and to cut a bit of the sweetness.



Cardamom is believed to have been brought from India to Greece by one of Alexander the Great's soldiers in the fourth century BC, where it was used in both medicinal as well as culinary concoctions. In the ninth century, the Vikings took it from Constantinople to Scandinavia, where it's still a fragrant favourite in baking and even in some versions of pickled herring. In southern Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii it can be grown outdoors as a perennial plant.