Black Cardamom

Black Cardamom

Black cardamom, also known as brown, greater, large, longer, or Nepal cardamom, comes from the species Amomum subulatum and is native to the eastern Himalayas and mostly cultivated in Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, and parts of Darjeeling district in West Bengal of India, and southern Bhutan.

It is most commonly used in slow-cooked meat stews and is never used in sweet dishes. Like green cardamom, you can remove the seeds or use the pods whole. China and Vietnam also use black cardamom as a key ingredient in jin-jin meat and phở broth respectively.

Cardamom is used for digestion problems including heartburn, intestinal spasms, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), intestinal gas, constipation, liver and gallbladder complaints, and loss of appetite. It is also used for common cold, cough, bronchitis, sore mouth and throat, and tendency toward infection.