Ground Cardamom

One US cup of ground cardamom weighs 92.8 grams. Going the other way, 100 grams is about 1.08 cups.

Also called ground cardamom, cardamom, cardamom powder, green cardamom powder, powdered cardamom, elaichi powder, ground green cardamom.

A US cup of ground cardamom weighs 93 grams, a figure on which USDA's reference weight and an independent foodservice measurement agree within about 1%.

Ground cardamom is milled from the small black seeds inside the pods of green cardamom, Elettaria cardamomum. White cardamom is the same species with the pods bleached. Black cardamom is a different plant, Amomum subulatum, with a smoky, camphor-like flavor that belongs in savory cooking; it is not a substitute in cardamom buns, chai, or custards. Lower-priced ground cardamom is sometimes milled from whole pods with the husk included, which lowers both quality and price. This entry covers ground green cardamom as sold in jars.

USDA's SR Legacy record lists 5.8 grams per tablespoon of ground cardamom, which scales to 92.8 grams per cup. Its teaspoon figure of 2 grams scales to 96, but that portion is rounded to the whole gram, so the tablespoon basis is used. A foodservice conversion table built from measurements across several vendors lists ground cardamom at 3.31 ounces per cup, or 93.8 grams, with its tablespoon and teaspoon columns agreeing. Two independent methods land within a gram of each other.

Physically, cardamom sits at the light end of the warm baking spices, below paprika and ground nutmeg and close to pumpkin pie spice. At about 7% fat by USDA composition, it carries roughly half the fat of paprika, so its particles are less tacky and it spoons more consistently. Its character comes from volatile oils such as cineole and terpinyl acetate, which begin escaping as soon as the seed is ground. That loss is large for flavor but negligible for weight: a stale jar measures the same grams per spoon and simply delivers less aroma.

The larger measuring error with cardamom is not cup weight but pod conversions. Published rules disagree widely, from 6 to 12 pods per teaspoon of ground cardamom, and a much-repeated rule holds that 10 pods equal 1½ teaspoons. A weight check does not support them. Reported seed weights run about 0.08 to 0.12 grams per pod. At 1.9 grams per teaspoon of ground cardamom, that implies roughly 16 to 24 pods' worth of seeds per teaspoon, about twice what the common rules suggest. Rules near 10 pods per teaspoon fit better with grinding whole pods, husk included, since the husk adds bulk but little flavor. When a recipe specifies pods, the reliable conversion is by weight: crack the pods, weigh the seeds, and substitute an equal weight of ground cardamom.

In practice, a teaspoon of ground cardamom weighs about 1.9 grams and a tablespoon 5.8 grams. Scandinavian cardamom buns and some Indian sweets use it by the tablespoon, where weighing is worth it. Because the aroma fades quickly after grinding, buy small jars and replace them often. Spoon it into the measure and level without pressing, and keep the jar tightly closed.