Black cardamom pods, also known as brown or big cardamom, are large dried pods with a dark brown-black husk and moist, sweet seeds inside. Grown in Nepal and Vietnam, they are dried over open fires, which gives them their unmistakable smoky fragrance and a resinous, camphor-like depth quite unlike the green cardamom used in sweets.
Ours are sourced from Nepal and Vietnam, then hand-packed by our own team in Sussex under the Sussex Wholefoods label.
Use the pods whole, lightly bruised, so they perfume a dish and can be lifted out before serving. They are a mainstay of northern Indian cooking: biryani, dal, garam masala and slow-cooked lamb curries, as well as Vietnamese pho broth and Chinese braises.
Keep them somewhere cool and dry in a sealed container, and crack the pods only when you need the seeds so the aroma stays put.
