Cardamom Pods: Which Color to Choose?

published Jan 5, 2012
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Tahini and Cardamom-Spiced Granola (Image credit: Karen Biton-Cohen)

There’s a new spice shop that just opened in my Oakland neighborhood, and from the moment I walked in I was intrigued. I’d never encountered so many different varieties of one single spice or herb. When it came time to choose cardamom, I was stumped: which color pod was the most fragrant or flavorful?

Cardamom pods come in three colors: black, green and white. It turns out that each color has a distinct personality, flavor-wise. Green cardamom is the one you’ll generally see in grocery stores and many spice shops and it turns out that white cardamom is simply a bleached version of that. Apparently the thought behind this is that you can still impart the subtle cardamom flavor into baked goods or cream-based desserts without adding any color. And according to Cook’s Illustrated, black cardamom isn’t cardamom at all but a close relative.

When it comes down to it, flavor is the important consideration, so the team at Cook’s Illustrated did a taste test using the spice in a simple sugar cookie and in the cooking water for chicken biryani. The result? Green cardamom ground from the pod was the “most vibrant and balanced” whereas the white cardamom was a significant disappointment. The black cardamom tasted more smoky, so it’d be nice in more savory dishes but in the cookies it came across as a bit schizophrenic. The verdict from Cook’s Illustrated? Go green.

Related: From the Spice Cupboard: Cardamom