Cardamom, vanilla and honey gently sweeten and flavor a glass of milk. Heated until just warm, it is the perfect soothing cup of milk.
This flavor profile is based on a “Persian Love Cake” that I baked years ago for a friend’s bridal party. It had the same spices in it, and I really loved it. Cardamom is sometimes called the “Queen of Spices” and was held in high esteem in the Ancient world. I hold it in high esteem in my modern world because it is so delicious! It was traditionally thought to improve digestion, and your breath, but beyond that it has an exotic, slightly spicy-yet-sweet flavor that is unique. You can replace the vanilla with a few drops of rose extract for an especially Persian flavor profile.
We have had a busy Valentine’s Day so far today. I wasn’t planning on it being quite so busy and full of extra crafts and such, but I realized that my six year-old was really looking forward to today and I wanted to make it special for her (especially after she had the flu all of last week and has been rather home bound as of late). You can follow our adventures of today on my Facebook page.
But for now, I just need to a second to drink some relaxing, nourishing warm milk after a busy morning.
You can make this dairy-free by using homemade almond or coconut milk too. My children prefer a simple warmed milk with honey, but I like the extra flavor of the following.
- 2 cups of milk of choice (I used raw goat’s milk)
- 8 green cardamom pods, smashed and the brown seeds removed to use (about ½ teaspoon of the brown seeds)
- 3 teaspoons honey (I used local and raw)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the better quality the better as the flavor really comes through)
- Combine the milk and cardamom in a small pot and heat until just warm. Take off the heat, and stir in the honey. Let steep for five minutes.
- Add the vanilla (if you want your milk hot, rather than warm, you can reheat at this point) and then pour through a small fine sieve into two cups. Serve right away.
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That sounds lovely 🙂 I don’t have any of the pods so I’ll have to tinker with the spice.
Let us know how it turns out for you! I think that the powered kind should work well (I’d just use less). In fact, I would have tried it myself, except I didn’t have any on hand and I was too lazy to grind my own from the seeds. 😉
Oh my gosh! This is so good. I don’t have the pods but I do have the spice ground, so used a tad less than the amount of seeds called for. Also I used coconut milk – lite coconut milk right from the can, but I didn’t use a full cup; that way I was able to cool it down by filling my teacup with water. And another thing I did, but didn’t realize it until after, was that I used 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla. Hey, I was cutting the recipe in half and the 3/4 teaspoon measurement was what I was using to measure out half the honey; I just forgot that using it once for the vanilla would be more than half the vanilla called for in the entire recipe.
Still delish though!
Andresa,
Thanks so much for sharing with us how you made it work for you! Glad to hear that coconut milk worked for you (I’ve always enjoyed it myself!)
That is how I make my warmed green tea. Yum! I also add cardamon to my morning kefir smoothie along with cinnamon and turmeric. Double Yum!
I like your kefir smoothie idea. 🙂
swoon! i like to add some freshly ground ashwagandha root (it’s a chinese herb) to my homemade almond milk at night to give me that extra calming effect before sleep. it’s even better with cow’s milk—i know because before i (had to) quit dairy, i LOVED it.
Yum! That sounds good too. 🙂
I would love to have the recipe for the Persian Love Cake. Do you have it posted somewhere?
I make this all the time for me and my kid! I usually use the cardamom seeds though instead of the whole pods. Also, ground mace is amazing with the honey and milk. Maple syrup instead of honey can give it a nice twist, too! : )
much like chai as one main seed in it is cardamom as well as cinnamon and such…. nice = and a Tea can be made from the spice if you not do milk… or add oats and water – instead of milk and you have Cardamom and Honey Oat-Milk! as i was a Sacredhermit for years and lived with tea and had to learn new ways to make milk to add – this idea reminds me of such. great info and makes for pleasant present moments.
Thank you for the info on The Natural Food Advocates. I had seen some of their supplements in my daughters home and had wondered how she was using them. Also, very interested in working on my dental health. This is great!