cardamom

seeds
ground
5.0
based on 21 reviews
try me sample
0.35 oz
75¢
shaker jar
2 oz
$11
refill
2 oz
$10
large refill
8 oz
$29
PACKAGING GUIDE
VARIANTS
decorticated - seeds
whole pods - green pods
ground - seeds
Ground cardamom seed allows for the quick addition of cardamom's warm, citrusy and floral flavor to your dishes. This is the spice in its most ready-to-use form. The outer green husk of the cardamom pod has been broken open and removed, and the black-brown seeds within have been collected and ground.

Ground cardamom is an ideal blending spice that marries well with the classics of Indian garam masalas and Chinese 5-spice mixtures, lending them each a softness yet an assertive citrus edge that creates a "umami" of spice combinations. Overall, it adds a tang with a softness that is never bitter.

Ground cardamom is an excellent spice to dust over coffee or tea lattes. It's as pretty as it is flavorful.

Special note: Our spice is ground from the seeds only, and may be stronger and more potent than other samples, as it is also common for many vendors to include the husk when milling cardamom into powders. In general with cardamom the rule is "a little goes a long way"; our seed-only grind will render this sentiment even more accurate.
QUICK INFO
cardamom , ground
PROCESSING / FORM
ground
BOTANICAL NAME
Elettaria cardamomum
ORIGIN
Guatemala
BOTANICAL NAME
Elettaria cardamomum
AKA
True cardamom
small cardamom
queen of spices
Elettaria cardamomum is the aromatic plant that yields the fruit called cardamom. The fruit capsules are dried for their numerous culinary uses and for their wellness properties, and so these pungent pods have been dubbed the "Queen of Spices." Green cardamom is considered to be the second-most expensive spice by weight, surpassed only by saffron.

Though this plant is native to India's western Malabar coast, the majority of the world's supply of green cardamom now comes from Guatemala where the plant has been given another nick-name: "Green Gold of Guatemala." Part of the crop's success in the country lies in its being suitable for growing by smallholder households (often women-led). However suitable the crop is for farming, both cultivation and harvesting are still labor-intensive. Plants aren't mature for three to four years and the area around the crop requires weeding and pest control during that time. Once mature, the plant flowers in the spring, the fruit swells in the summer, and then when it is bright green and ripe it is ready for harvesting—usually in the first half of October.

Harvesting is done by hand, with scrapes or shoots of fruit clusters being broken off close to the stem. These fruit pods, called 'capsules', are dried by either sun or machine (depending on weather) after which they are then cleaned, polished, sorted, graded, and packed.
CONFUSIONS

Cardamom in kind
Though green cardamom pods are the most familiar to Americans, cardamom also can be found in black and white varieties. Though the term white cardamom is often (but not always) in reference to a bleached version of the green cardamom pods; black cardamom is a different species Amomum subulatum.

 
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REVIEWS (21)