[Sca-cooks] black cardamom vs. green cardamom vs. something else

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

Was discussing spices this weekend with someone and he said he was making
an Indian dish that called for black cardamom. (I thought black cardamom
was fully ripened cardamom, while green were the slightly immature
cardamom pods, but he thought not.) Anyway, he bought something in the
grocery which had a similar name to black cardamom, but stank awfully (it
was black seeds of some kind.)

Can anyone shed some light on this linguistic tangle?

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"American boys should not be seen dying on the nightly news. Wars should be
over in three days or less, or before Congress invokes the War Powers
Resolution. Victory must be assured in advance. And the American public
must be all for it from the outset." -- Evan Thomas