Cardamon (small) information

Information for cardamon (small) in our free herbs and spices resources collection.

Cardamon (small)

Small cardamom, popularly known as ‘Queen of Spices’, is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. It is a shade loving plant cultivated at an altitude of 600 to 1200 m above MSL with an annual rainfall of 1500 to 4000 mm and a temperature range of 10 to 35°C. Until recently India was the main producer and exporter of cardamom. Of late Guatemala has emerged as a keen competitor to Indian cardamom in the international spice market. Tanzania, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea are the other cardamom growing countries. In India, cardamom is cultivated in the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Kerala accounts for 60% of the cultivation and production followed by Karnataka 30% and Tamil Nadu 10%.

Cardamom oil is used in food, perfumery and liquor and pharmaceutical industries as a flavour and a carminative. Its use in the food industry is in flavouring pickles, meat and canned soups. However, the oil is reported to develop some off flavour in a few days when it contacts with air; its use is therefore restricted to fresh meat products and foods with short shelf-life. Increasing use of cardamom oil is reported in compounded flavours for baked goods, sauces and condiments. Cardamom oil is reported to be gaining increasing use in perfumery, with a trend to spicy tones modifying the dominant lavender group perfumes for women.

Cardamom is used as an adjuvant to carminative drugs. It is officially recognised in British and US pharmacopoeias and used as an aromatic stimulant, carminative and flavouring agent. It can be used to ease cigarette addiction. Eating a few seeds of cardamom can safely be recommended to initially minimise the number of cigarettes being smoked, and slowly the smoker may give up the chronic addiction to chain smoking.

Cardamom is indigenous to the evergreen rainforests of western ghats of Southern India from where it spread to other tropical countries such as Sri Lanka, Tanzania and a few Central American countries. Presently it is being cultivated in countries lying between 20° latitude north and south. Cardamom was an article of Greek trade during the fourth century BC. It was listed among the Indian spices liable to duty at Alexandria in AD 176.

E. Cardamomum exhibits considerable variation under cultivation and the naming of commercial types after the places of production has led to confusion regarding the identity of the varieties. Two varieties based on the size of the fruits are recognized. They are : (1) E.cardamomum var. Major Thw. comprising the ‘wild’ indigenous cardamom of Ceylon or Greater oblong cardamom or long cardamom and (2) E.cardamomum var. minor comprising all the cultivated races, particularly those included under the names Malabar and Mysore cardamoms. Var. major is the more primitive variety from which the cultivated var. minor is derived. All the varieties and races are interfertile and the observed variations are probably due to natural crossing.

• Cardamon (large)
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Cumin
• Curry leaf
• Dill

• Aniseed main uses in food processing
• Aniseed functional properties
• Aniseed toxicity and allergy
• Bay leaves
• Black pepper
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