[Sca-cooks] al-Kindi's resat jelly is not mead

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

First, i get the digest, and second, i'm on at irregular times, so i
just found this message around 7:30 PM PST...

Mirhaxa asked:
>On Fri, 7 Feb 2003 lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
>  > Then one dirham each is taken of
>  > lesser cardamom
>  > cardamom
>
>Do we have any idea what lesser cardomom is?

Yes.

Levey in the Materia Medica portion of the book from which i quoted
the formula says

226. (Arabic writing) qaqullah. Cardamom or greater cardamom -
Amomum, species (?) - The cardamom species is as yet uncertain in
Sumerian and Akkadian. There is, however, a strong probability that
it is the Akkadian qaqula (Meissner, Zeit., 293) The cardamom grows
in Cochin China, Siam, Ceylon, and on the Malaber Coast. The seed is
used as a spice and medicine by the natives and in India as a
carminative and stomachic (Ainslie, I:52-54). [EDIT]

313. (Arabic writing) hal. Lesser Cardamom. Seed of the Elettaria
cardamomum Wh. adn Matern. - Al-Kindi [EDIT] uses hal in the
nosh-daru electuary to make one happy, for rotting teeth, and for bad
breat, in the drug to strengthen breathing, and in a stomachic. The
Persian hal comes from Sanskrit ela. [EDIT] The lesser cardamom is
still sold in Egyptian bazaars as a stomachic, stimulant,
carminative, and condiment. Synonyms for hal are hal bawwa,
jar-bawwa, and ash-shamshir.

Then i searched on Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages..
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/

Since "lesser cardamom" is identified as Elettaria cardamomum, then
it is the kind most of us get - in green or bleached pods (it's more
fun in the pods) (although one can buy whole seeds taken out of the
pod or powdered seeds).

Black cardamom *may* be greater cardamom.  It is indeed an Amomum,
but it appears that there are at least two Amomum species, and
possibly more, used in South and Southeast Asia.

Googling, I found a website selling Indian spices that had both.

Anahita