BLACK CARDAMOM - What it is, How to use it & Why you shouldn't put it in Tea - Spice Finds

BLACK CARDAMOM - What it is, How to use it & Why you shouldn't put it in Tea - Spice Finds
Scientific Name: Amomum subulatum

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[liabobia]

Black cardamom is a "secret weapon" spice for me. I simmer a few pods in a stick of butter and then use pats of the butter on hamburgers or to finish fresh refried beans.

[sreejayabhattacharjeegodfr]

Black cardamom is grown in the southern foothills of the Himalayas in Sikkim. Green cardamom is grown in southern tropical state of Kerala.
Black cardamom is usually used in meat dishes for its more intense smoky flavors. Whereas green cardamom is used in both sweet and savory dishes in the Indian subcontinent.
Green cardamom is also an antidepressant as such it is very popular in lots of baked goods in Scandinavia countries as well and when consumed raw is a mouth freshener 🙏

[sskpsp]

I started replacing one green cardamom pod with black in my masala chai (just ginger + cardamom + black pepper) because it still tasted like cardamom but with a smoky note. The smokiness pairs really well with some good quality black tea like Ceylon, which makes it almost like a deep dark chocolate flavor. You could even add in some lapsang souchong if you really like the smoky flavor.

[gandelf]

I tried black cardamom in some tea after seeing this video. I used mint leaves, 2 cloves, 5 black peppercorns, 1 inch cinnamon, 1 half star anise, 1 black cardamom, 3 green cardamom and a tablespoon of honey. Of course with a couple spoons of actual tea leaf in there too. It was a nice addition and when used alongside green cardamom it only slightly adds a smoked flavor. Thank you for introducing me to this spice. 🙂

[Invictus_Mithra]

I know you always say that you're not a cooking Channel but I love seeing your creative and unconventional uses for ingredients!

[aron]

I've been using black cardamom in hotpots, braised meet/tofu and for a peculiar Chinese style morning soup. I love that spice almost as much as the Sichuan pepper.

[surkh]

I found out a couple of years ago that there is such a thing as Ethiopian cardamom that is delicious as well, but *different* from the Black Cardamom that is used in indian/pakistani cuisine (it is also sometimes called "False Cardamom"). I found out about it because I accidentally bought it and used it as Black Cardamom, and it's very delicious but distinctly different from regular Black Cardamom. Looks similar, but slightly larger in size and smoother, rounder in appearance. It is somewhat in a similar neighborhood in flavor.

Though after that one time i was not able to find it in the store.

[CharGC]

I'm vegan, and when I cook a pot of dried beans from scratch I love to add a few black Cardamom pods along with smoked paprika and a teaspoonful of Lapsang Souchong tea for a really nice smokey "ham" sort of flavor.

[Etubnuel]

As a Swede, green cardamom is very familiar, it's just used so much in pastries and buns/rolls. But if you read old cook books from 200 years or so back "grains of paradise" was just as common - used in swedish version of gingerbread etc. This is something that is simply impossible to find in Sweden nowadays.. I have to get it shipped in from Nigeria where it's amongst igbo population are used together with kola nut.

[stephenworthington-white]

Green cardamom goes very well with milk and cream! I've made tasty creme brulee with cardamom. Ice cream with cardamom and rose water is yummy. The best dessert I ever had in India was a cardamom and orange blossom water milky soup with tender noodle pieces of some sort. Language barrier prevented me from getting all the info that I wanted about this amazing dessert! This was in the time before Google! I agree about the chai. I have heard people ordering " the spiced masala chai tea"

[havokmusicinc]

as a connoisseur of Ethiopian cuisine, black/false cardamom is one of my favorites flavors. Hard to find in the US, alas, and most berbere/awaze here omits it as an ingredient

[alasdair_scott]

Hey Jared, the one you couldn't identify at the beginning is the dried fruit of Galangal (Alpinia galanga) - not to be confused with Sharpleaf Galangal (Alpinia oxyphylla).

It doesn't really have an english name, so probably they made do with "Red Cardamom". You can find it under the name "Hongdoukou".

[nenben]

Black cardemom combines well with like
Juniper

I've added black cardemom to tea and masala chai
I feel like the green cardemom is needed to back up that idea of masala chai
But the black cardemom gives a certain depth and body and savoriness that isn't there as much with the standard spices of like
Star anise, green cardemom, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace ect.
Gives a smokey resinous savory woody character.

I've mixed it with lapsang Souchong and juniper berries out of curiosity, it turns campfire tea into foresty tea

[rajr]

Black cardamom, as you stated, is more savory-friendly. In Indian cuisine, it is added sparingly, a few pods, to muglai meat curries, where, of course, a whole lot of other spices are added. On the vegetarian side, whole black cardamom, a few pods, gives that special smoky flavour to bean curries, as in the red kidney bean (rajma) curry, so popular in the northern-most provinces of India.

[roadrunnercrazy]

I love how everyone's masala chai is a little different. I learned to put both types of cardamom in mine, 3 pods of green and one of black. I haven't made chai for a little while Now I need to shop for the ingredients.

Fortunately, we have an excellent Indian store in town that specializes in spices.👍

[JohnBainbridge]

Speaking of smoky spices, have you tried Cameroon Pepper? Smells nearly identical to smoked paprika, but it's very spicy in a peppery way, with a bit of that Sichuan peppercorn numbing. It's SO GOOD in chili!

[kronop]

I usually infuse vodka with green cardamom and add simple syrup to taste, a grown up substitute to Swedish cardamom buns with my after dinner cup of coffee.

[rukathehamsteratwork]

The comments section of this video is very informative and I love it ! Thank you, from Tokyo, Japan. 😊

[BrendanTripp]

About a year ago I bought a pack of black cardamom at the local Desi Mart, largely because it was a lot cheaper than green cardamom. I initially tried to use it as I would have the green ... extracting the seeds into a mortar & pestle to manually grind, but I found the interior of the pods to be quite sticky, and it became a major chore to get them separated. I got onto YouTube (as one does) and found various Indian ladies talking about the spice. Several of them noted the usability of the pods, and how putting the whole pods into a spice/coffee grinder worked great. This is how I've been using it ever since.(I primarily use black cardamom in baking, mixing it with chopped dates in sweet loaves). This was a fun vid.

[celestine]

Never tried black cardamom, but I'm very well acquainted with the green pods. My Swedish grandfather would have ground cardamom on buttered toast with breakfast very often and, despite my sweet tooth as a kid, I developed a love for it myself.