Ground Powder

Who buys the 1kg ground pack

Kitchens that cannot afford variance. A restaurant running the same dal or the same rub every service needs the cardamom to taste identical in March and in September, which means milling to a consistent particle size from a single origin rather than blending whatever the wholesaler had that month.

Beyond restaurants: masala and garam masala blenders, marinade and sauce manufacturers, and rub producers, all of whom are dosing by weight into a formula and want one fewer variable in it.

Ground cardamom is a clock, not a shelf

The moment a pod is milled, the volatile oils that make black cardamom worth buying start leaving. That is why this pack is vacuum-sealed the same day it is milled and why we put six months on it rather than the 24 we give whole pods. Six months is not a safety date, it is the point past which you are paying for cardamom and getting sawdust.

• Leave the vacuum seal intact until the pack goes into service. An unopened bag is holding its aroma; an opened one is spending it.
• Once open, decant into an airtight container and keep it off the line. Steam and radiant heat from a working station is the worst place in the building for it.
• Never dose over a steaming pot. Scoop into a dry measure first, back-humidity clumps the powder and pulls it toward the pot's smell rather than yours.
• Order to your turnover, not to your storeroom. If you use 1kg a quarter, buy a quarter at a time, this is the one SKU where buying ahead loses you money.