Cardamom
Elettaria cardamomum · Spice
Top 10 pairings
A spice of papery green pods, each holding sticky black-brown seeds that smell cool like eucalyptus, then citrussy, sweet and floral. The costly "queen of spices" perfumes chai, Arabic coffee and Scandinavian buns.
Picking a good onedrag
Just milled, loud and oilyFaded, dusty, smells of nothing
Whole in the jarEveryday bestSteep whole pods in rice or chai, then fish them out: a whole pod can choke a small child.
Crush a podPerfumed, camphor edge softer
Whole or groundWhole, a year in, loud when split
Look at the podsFading to straw, the odd split
Press a podFirmer, seeds just about sticky