Cardamom, the ‘queen of spices’, has been traded and given as gifts for around 4000 years; it’s not at all unlikely that the Magi presented cardamom as a gift to baby Jesus. Used by Cleopatra as an aphrodisiac and in Arab culture as a symbol of hospitality, cardamom eventually found its way to Northern Europe by way of the Moors. Since that time, the spice has played an important part in Europe’s culinary history, particularly in sweets made for the Christmas holiday.
When I lived in India, I would often feel melancholic during the Christmas holiday, longing for cold weather and the warmth of Christmas cheer. One way