Cardamom seed question

[ziggystardust]

I'm a new cook so forgive me if this is a dumb question. I want to make a slow cooker beef stew today and I'm trying to spice it up a bit. Would cardamom seed work in it or ruin it?

[todao]

Not all cardamom are the same. In East Indian cooking, large cardamom, a very strong variety that is dried in smoke, is somewhat harsh in flavor. Ihe smaller Malabar cardamom that seems to be the most common in our region, has a mild delicate flavor that I think would be a nice compliment to your stew.. If you have the Mysore cardamom (it has three converging angles to the seed) has a somewhat woody flavor but it too should work nicely in your stew.
If you're still unsure, try melting a little bit of unsalted butte (can also use vegetable oil) and adding a pinch of your cardamom (if it's ground cardamom just add it directly, if it's in seed for try to grind it to expose the inner portion) and heating it for a minute, then taste the mixture to see how you like the flavor. Careful though, use it sparingly. Much like vanilla and saffron, a little bit goes a long way. You'll get a feel for it when you taste the butter mixture.

[ziggystardust]

Thanks! Mine is in seed form, so I guess I'll have to run out and get something to crush it with.

[Becca Porter]

To flavor something like stew, just crush the seed pods under your chefs knife and throw them in. Then remove before eating... or warn your diners to be on the look out.

[ziggystardust]

They aren't pods, they're the seeds themselves. Any harm in just adding them as they are?

[todao]

No problem at all, just give them a bit of a crush with a chef's knife (as Becca suggested) or the back of a spoon. It might work better to wrap them tightly in a bit of cheese cloth or similar material so you can remove them after the stew is finished cooking. Sure beats trying to fish them out with a spoon. Trust me ... been there, done that.
If you don't have a cloth suitable for the job, find a tea bag in your cupboard and dump the tea out (avoid spiced tea) and put the cardomom inside, then tie it closed with thread.

[Becca Porter]

So they are the tiny black/brown seeds that are just a bit bigger than a cumin seed? You usually find cardamom either ground or in seed pod form.

If so, you can just add them as they are. They can be eaten.

The seed pod is usually green, white, or even black I think and about the size of a dime.

[ziggystardust]

Right, the size of cumin seed. Many thanks to you both! I'll give it a go.