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

[Helen Highwater]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa wrote:
>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?

Actually we had this discussion rather recently.

Green cardamom is also called lesser cardamom. It's the one we
generally find, with the pale green pods (sometimes bleached almost
white)

Black cardamom is one of a number of related plants grown and used in
South and Southeast Asia. The pods are bigger, darker, coarser
looking, wrinkledy...

Check out Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages. He's got detailed botanical
and cultural info as well as photos...
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/index.html

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) (green, white, lesser)
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/Elet_car.html

Black Cardamom (Amomum subulatum)
http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/Amom_sub.html

I haven't bought any black cardamom yet. They were called for in a
Mongol recipe i was looking at, but haven't yet tested (yes, for the
next feast i will test recipes). I need to check the many local South
Asian groceries to see if they have some.

Anahita