There is probably an entire generation of cooks like myself who have sidestepped cardamom. In the early days of vegetarian cooking, many recipes were taken from East Indian cooking, and very often, the recipe would call for cardamom.      

Cardamom was not readily available 30 years ago in Canada. I made the false assumption that because it was often used in combination with cinnamon, allspice, clove, coriander and nutmeg, it must be similar to these spices. Some recipes would list allspice and cinnamon as a substitute for cardamom or often, cardamom was listed as an optional ingredient. The word “cardamom” even looked like “cinnamon.” For these reasons, I had always merrily ignored it and simply used extra cinnamon.

Cardamom seems to be making a comeback. It is popping up as an ingredient in popular cookbooks and food magazines, often in apple dishes and curries. And surprise, it is now easily available in Middle Eastern and East Indian grocery stores and any other store with a good spice selection. Perhaps it deserves a proper try.

 I was making chutney from a recipe that called for both cardamom and cinnamon. I had been given a sampler of exotic spices that included a few green cardamom pods and I thought that this would be as good a time as any to resolve my cardamom/cinnamon issue. As soon as I broke open one of the small, pale-green pods, I knew that I had been fooled.

 Cardamom, a native of India, is a member of the ginger family. There are two very different types of this spice which each has their own unique use in cooking: green and black.

            If a recipe calls for “cardamom,” it means green cardamom. This is the true kind, also known as the Queen of Spices, and it is integral to Indian curries, rice dishes and chai.

When you crack open the dried shell, you may think that you have just opened a bottle of fragrant shower gel. It has a delicate citrus and floral scent with a refreshing eucalyptus note. If that sounds like I am describing a perfume, it should come as no surprise that cardamom is also a favourite essence used by cologne manufacturers such as Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein.

            Green cardamom was once considered to be one of the three most expensive spices, next to saffron and vanilla, but now that it is grown in countries like Mexico and Guatemala, it is more affordable and available. The majority of all green cardamom is still used in India, or is exported to the Arab countries, where it is an important flavouring for their coffee. It also, surprisingly, plays a very prominent part in Scandinavian cuisine, where it is used in cookies, sausages and mulled wine. It seems that the Vikings, somewhere between plundering and pillaging, found time to appreciate the floral qualities of cardamom, and they brought it home from their travels.

            Recipes may call for the entire pod, seeds only or ground. In stew-type dishes, the pod is slightly crushed and left whole to flavour the dish as it cooks. If the recipe asks for the seeds only, you may find yourself opening up as many as 40 pods to get enough seeds. Time consuming, but definitely worth the flavour. Ground cardamom is the dried seed of green cardamom. It may be used in place of whole pods or seeds, but the essential oil, which imparts the signature flavour of cardamom, is quickly lost once the pod is broken open. Ground is often used for baking, puddings and fruit dishes.

            Black cardamom has a distinctly different aroma from green. It is a wild variety of the spice, referred to as “fake” by some cooks.

When you crack open one of these large, hard, black-brown, wrinkled pods, you may think you smell burnt rubber. It is a very pungent odour, with a strong camphor smell. If you get the oil of the seeds on your fingers, it will stay with you until you scrub them.

Black cardamom is popular in Africa and Arab countries, especially in their robust stews and meat dishes. In these recipes, pods are crushed and allowed to simmer with the rest of the ingredients. It takes only a few to give any dish a rustic, smoky flavour.

When both cardamom are used in a dish, there will always be far more green than black, and it is important to note that you should not substitute green with black. Black has a very over-powering flavour. Green cardamom seeds can be chewed as a breath freshener. I tried this and quite enjoyed them. I can’t imagine using black cardamom for the same purpose. And no, I didn’t even try!

There is one other type of cardamom that you might see in recipes, the white cardamom. This is green cardamom, which has been sun-bleached. The Scandinavian cooks prefer white for their pastries. There is no difference in flavour.

            Just remember: green cardamom is delicate and floral; black cardamom is bold and smoky. They each have their uses. I have started putting a few black cardamom pods in baked tomato and chicken dishes. Green pods add a lovely flavour and aroma to rice. I am glad that my curiosity finally got the better of me.