Premium Idukki Elaichi (8+ MM) | Whole Cardamom – 25 g

Why the millimetre matters

• Cardamom is graded by pod size through a screen
• 8 mm+ is the bold grade — larger, best-filled pods of the harvest
• A bold pod holds more seed, and the seed is where the oil is
• Anyone can say “premium”. Screen size is a number the trade itself uses.

Where it comes from

• The Cardamom Hills of Idukki, Kerala — altitude, shade and the right rainfall
• Hand-picked at the right maturity, which decides whether a pod is full or hollow

What’s not done to it

• Not sulphur-bleached, which leaves pods uniformly pale
• Not dyed, which leaves them implausibly, evenly bright
• Our colour varies slightly pod to pod — that’s what unmanipulated cardamom looks like

How to use it

• Whole in rice and biryani, bruised so it opens
• Ground seed in kheer, halwa, shrikhand — split the pod, use the black seed
• Chai — one crushed pod per cup
• Coffee — one pod ground with the beans, if you’ve never tried it

Test it yourself

• Squeeze a pod. It should feel full and slightly springy, not papery and hollow.