Ingredient
Cardamom
A small green pod with a fragrant, slightly camphorous warmth — gin, coffee and chai all gain depth with a couple lightly bruised.
Flavour profile
Cardamom is the most photogenic spice on the rack and also the most aromatic. A couple of green pods, lightly cracked, will perfume a whole warm cocktail without ever becoming aggressive. It loves gin and coffee in particular — both share its citrus-cool aromatic register. Use pods rather than ground cardamom; the powder oxidises in days and loses everything that made it interesting.
Recipes featuring cardamom
Cardamom Gin Fizz
A bright, aromatic fizz built with gin, fresh lemon and homemade cardamom syrup, topped with soda for a lightly warming, perfumed winter highball.
Chai Spiced Old Fashioned
An old fashioned built with bourbon and a homemade chai syrup of cardamom, clove, cinnamon and ginger, finished with orange peel over a single large ice cube.