The unexpected ingredient of the ultimate refreshing lemonade

I admit it: I don’t like cardamom in most recipes. Having grown up in the Maharashtra, I found green cardamom everywhere. He flavored desserts like Gulab Jamun and Kheer, and had often returned to festive dishes and festive candies. He appeared in our Masala Chai and some meat dishes (although his smoked cousin, black cardamom, generally plays a more daring role in meat dishes). It has always been there, but I kept it on the length of the arm. Too many surprise games with a whole pod that hides in my food convinced me that it was not for me. Bite in a green cardamom pod and the experience is, for me, extremely scented – as someone has increased the volume too high on floral notes.

But cardamom is used with a little care? This is another story. I love him in Swedish breads, where he weaves gently through the dough and is in the oven. And I also appreciate it in the Indian drinks with which I grew up, where it is impregnated and tense, lending its floral scent without leaving the lively corners. This sweet and refreshing lemonade infused with cardamom is an excellent example of a perfectly balanced recipe where cardamom shines.

Learn to love cardamom

In my country of origin, drinks infused by cardamom are extremely popular. We love our strong, spicy and restorative drinks: some of my favorites are mango juice made at the height of summer; Masala Chaha (known as Masala Chai through the subcontinent), which contains milk, cinnamon and cloves; Chicory coffee with milk and nutmeg; And the lemonade infused by cardamom as the recipe that I share below. This soft and pleasantly floral pie lemonade is one of my favorite hot drinks. In this Indian lemonade, green cardamom lends a floral aroma and a delicate candy flavor. Because it is finished well or tense in a glass after flavor, I don’t have to worry about biting in these crunchy and bitter pods.

The secret is in the syrup

My marathi lemonade recipe below captures the floral and flower elegance of cardamom without the intensity of punch-you-the-face. The key lies in the way you extract your flavor. To obtain the daring daring flavor and the notes of fresh cardamom that I wanted in this drink, I borrowed a technique from the spicy lemonade of the director of the director of the director of the director of Daniel Gritzer, Daniel Gritzer. Daniel’s trick begins the recipe with an oleo-saccharum, a syrupy infusion made by bark of macerant citrus with sugar. While sugar is with lemon bark, sugar pulls essential oils and water, forming a shiny and fragrant syrup.

In this version, I crack open cardamom pods and add them to the mixture, so that their flavored and water flavors are also fired in the syrup. The result is a concentrate of lemonade which is in layers, complex and undoubtedly Cardamommy – but without the intensity which has just bitten in a pod or to do it too much with ground spices.

Why salt belongs to this sweet drink

Another secret to improving the flavor of the drink is salt. The addition of a touch of salt to the sweet and spicy lemonade balances its flavors. I walk on my culinary students all the time through this idea. Why does each good recipe for chocolate chip cookies include salt? Because salt does not only make salty things – it improves softness, completes bitterness and sharpens the flavor overall. A little salt in a sweet drink like this does not add depth – it makes the drink more refreshing and balanced. In addition, a little salt makes this drink particularly refreshing after a training session or sweat on a hot stove. After all, salt is a key electrolyte included in sports drinks, and this lemonade is so much tasty than the average sports drink.

The makeup base with endless potential

The base can be done in advance and keeps for days in the refrigerator. You can dilute it with motionless or sparkling water, serve it on ice or stir in cocktails or shandies. And if you are a cardamom fan, you can double with a pinch of cardamom on the ground just before serving.

This recipe is a kind of reconciliation. This allows me to work with a spice that I grew up by resonating, and it uses a method that is both precise and sensory: you crush, you zest, you wait. The syrup perfumes your kitchen. You feel the transformation before you taste it. This is the kind of kitchen that I like to share with my students and with you.

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