Ingredient help - cardamom - relative quantities

[aero280]

I have a recipe that requires "a teaspoon of coriander seeds, not pods, ground.

I have pods but taking all the seeds out and getting that quantity will take ages. So I found some ready ground cardamom. Clearly the volume will reduce when seeds are ground.

Anyone know how much less? I'm thinking about 1/2 teaspoonful will equal 1 teaspoonful of seeds, ground up.

I suppose I could experiment with peppercorns, but I will ask here first.

[StokeySue]

I find there is not as much as 50% reduction in volume on grinding, in fact I find the powder fluffs up a bit, and there is not much difference in starting and ending volumes. Cardamom seeds are small and will pack more tightly than the larger spherical ones like coriander and pepper so I'd be inclined to go close to a whole teaspoonful

But that's a lot of cardamom, what's the recipe?

[aero280]

It's a stollen recipe.

In the end I compromised and used a bit over half the quantity. I re-read the recipe and it calls for ¾ tsp. So I used a bit over the half tsp of powder.

Dan Lepard in the Guardian. Someone recommended it last year. It's the one where I buried the marzipan in the middle by using half the mix, putting the marzipan in and covering it.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... dan-lepard

It's ideal for Boxing Day as we are meeting No.1 son and family only. No.2 son is with his in-laws and hates marzipan and anything with fruit in it!! So stollen is a no-no!!

[StokeySue]

Ah
I am happy, I got some Lidl Mini Stollen on the way home today

[aero280]

They are what gave me the idea!

[TeresaFoodie]

I posted a question about cardamom.on my Indian spices thread. My local shop sells ground and green and black pods. What's the difference as in which one to use when?

Loving the look of the recipe aero.

[Suelle]

It was probably me who recommended the recipe - it's very good!

[StokeySue]

[Seatallan]

[StokeySue]

aero, Pepper Pig found this and we thought of you

[karadekoolaid]

SUE!!! What a corny joke!!

Aero: I'd always go for less rather than more when working with highly aromatic spices like cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. If a recipe asks for 1 tsp of whole cardamom, ground - I measure out my tsp and put the whole lot in the spice grinder. I usually sift the resulting powder to remove traces of the shell.
But going back to quantities: there's nothing worse than a recipe which has an excess of a particular spice. I'm always (unpleasantly) reminded of cinnamon rolls and cheap Chinese takeaways, which reek of five-spice powder.
As for buying the spices, I'd always go for the whole spice; it will stay fresh for a whole lot longer. Powder goes stale after a month or so.

[aero280]

Thank you for the picture.

It will appear on the car forum very soon!!

It looks just like this one...

[StokeySue]

[aero280]

It's fairly easy to buy whole spice in the UK. I don't mind some grinding but I find getting cardamom from pod to powder a bit of a faff...

[TeresaFoodie]

[karadekoolaid]

[aero280]

Ground cardamom is hard to find in UK supermarkets, and the spice stall in Watford market has closed

I grabbed a jar of ground cardamom when I found it on the shelf in a French store.

[StokeySue]

I bought a little jar of the extracted seeds from Spice Mountain in Borough market and grind them when needed in ny Cuisinart Spice grinder
Steenbergs sell ground cardamom at a reasonable price, and as their jars are so good it will probably keep quite well

[aero280]

Thanks! Noted.

It's a crying shame that Watford Council moved the market to a point that is a long way up the High Street, is on two levels and very cold and windy. Hardly anyone goes there now, so all the regular stalls have gone.

One was a spice an nut stall. I could get almost anything there. The owner sold it on. The lady who took it on moved to the new market site, but found business was unsustainable there. She tried a counter in a shop, but it wasn't in the main drag. We are still in touch, but she now has another job and does nuts and seeds, not spice, from home for those of us who know where to go.