The Enchanting Spice

For those of you who don’t live in Bend, OR where Gather Nuts is based, you may not be aware of the city’s obsession with cardamom. It’s a real thing. Sparrow is a fantastic local bakery that made cardamom cool by creating the beloved Ocean Roll. It’s like a cinnamon roll but made with cardamom instead. Whenever we have visitors in town, it’s a must-go-to event.

 We could not help ourselves from creating a healthy nut-based version using this magical spice! It’s the perfect afternoon inspiration, tantalizing and slightly sweet. Cardamom has mood-elevating properties, and it helps to increase metabolism. We add a little ginger to the recipe to enhance the flavors and increase anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Warning - when you consume our Maple Cardamom Almonds, you might find yourself yearning to travel to faraway places, like Morocco. You might start looking into flights and Airbnb’s, or you might want to know where the heck Morocco is? Cardamon is only one spice well known in Morocco, but there are a thousand more to be explored, so I hope some of you go down this road and land yourself there one day!

Cardamom comes from seed pods of various plants in the ginger family. Its alluring scent is a combination of sweet and pungent, and it has some unique health benefits. It’s incredibly high in antioxidants which help to lower blood pressure. Even more so, the antioxidant compounds help protect cells from damage. Cardamom also slows down inflammation in the body, and it’s been shown to fight cancer. And a fun fact: cardamom is used to treat bad breath and is used in some chewing gums.