Black Cardamom Pods 100g

A kitchen jar's worth of black cardamom pods, the smoky cousin of green cardamom, sometimes sold as brown or big cardamom. Each dried pod is dark brown-black and slightly wrinkled, holding sticky, sweet-tasting seeds with a bold camphor and woodsmoke aroma that comes from fire-drying. Ours are sourced from Nepal and Vietnam, then hand-packed by our own team in Sussex under the Sussex Wholefoods label.

The flavour is savoury rather than sweet, so treat it as a background spice: drop a bruised pod or two into a rice pilaf, a dal, a beef or lamb curry, or a long-simmered pho or ramen broth, then fish it out at the end. Ground seeds go into homemade garam masala.

Stored in a closed container away from heat and light, the pods hold their fragrance well.