SC - grains of paradise

[David Dendy]

Cairistiona asked:

>Have been going over Francesco's marvellous description of grains of
>paradise again.  So are these the same thing that my Nepali friends here
>have been waving around as black cardamom?


No, they are different spices. Grains of Paradise are *Aframomum
meleguetta*, and come from West Africa; Black Cardamon is *Amomum subulatum*
and comes from northern India. As you may tell by the botanical names, they
are related, but less so than, for example, black pepper and cubebs. They
are not only different species but different (albeit close) genera. It's
notoriously hard to describe tastes, but one might say that grains of
paradise taste like a very much hotter, more peppery cardamom, while black
cardamon taste like a rougher cardamom, a little musty.

Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/