Organic Green Cardamom Pods Standard - 33g Steenbergs details and description

With their distinctive eucalyptus and sweet flavour, cardamom is a storecupboard must for all cooks.  Essential to curries and chai teas, and the ground seeds are core to much European baking.

Steenbergs Organic Cardamom Pods are the classic 10mm long pale green, oval and knobbly shaped cases that enclose some 10 small, browny-black, oily, pungent seeds.  The best way to use the cardamom pods whole but then to crush the pods, slightly cracking or tearing the casing, so you can see the seeds without them coming out; this releases the flavour as you cook with them.

Steenbergs organic cardamom pods come from India, Sri Lanka or Guatemala.  Organic cardamom is a wonderful spice that is prized in Indian, Middle Eastern and Scandinavian cookery, especially in sweet cooking like cakes and sweets as well as adding depth of character to savoury dishes that relish that sweet flavour against sourness and the umami of meats.

Sweet, spicy, warm and aromatic, I just love organic cardamom pods - they add a distinctive touch to curries, breads and more, or I just add a few lightly crushed organic cardamom pods into the water when boiling carrots, finding it adds that little something to the flavour.  Or why not try Steenbergs organic cardamom pods in an Indian style chai tea or to infuse the flavours through kulfi ice cream.

Cardamom is a tropical perennial plant that grows in the shade, often beneath larger shade trees like areca nut, disliking windy weather.  Cardamom has long, arching lance-like leaves that are 1 - 2 metres long (3 - 6 ft), which are shiny on top and dull underneath.  Cardamom plants are grown from rhizomes.  The leaves are large and dramatic, but the stems emerge from the base of the plant and spread out close to the base, where small white flowers blossom before the pods grow.  

The bright green and plump cardamom pods are hand picked from the base and are largely flavourless in the fresh form.  The fresh cardamom pods are then dried in a large shed, often helped by industrial drying systems that run through the drying area.  After 3 - 4 days, the cardamom pods have become dry and highly aromatic.  The seeds are inside the dry husks of the papery outer husk and are dark brown in colour, with a strong medicinal eucalypt aroma and are slightly oily.  For further details on cardamom, try Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages or Wikipedia.

The taste of the seeds is warm, camphorous and eucalypt, slightly astringent and refreshing on the tongue.  While cardamom is a pungent spice, green cardamom works well in curries and as an enhancement to black tea or coffee.  The powdered cardamom is used to flavour biscuits, cakes and pastries.  At Steenbergs, we use organic cardamom in mixes ranging from organic lebkuchen spice mix through to Madras curry powder.  Or for something really delicious, combine cardamom pods with rose water and a little saffron to infuse the milk for warm rice puddings, creating a sensuous and rich pudding.

For recipes using cardamom, go to the Steenbergs Recipe Pages and type cardamom into the box or try the BBC website.

Steenbergs organic cardamom pods are available through the Steenbergs website or Amazon.  Some of Steenbergs' retail customers also take the organic cardamom pods, so follow the link for your local Steenbergs stockist of organic cardamom or other organic spices, or to become a stockist of Steenbergs' spices call 01765 640 088 or email enquiries@steenbergs.co.uk.