Elettaria cardamomum Seeds | Cardamom
LATIN NAME: Elettaria cardamomum
COMMON NAME: Cardamom
Plant Profile
Cardamom is a perennial herb of the ginger family with leafy shoots two to three metres tall, arising from a thick, creeping rhizome. The leaves are long and lance-shaped, and the flowers appear on separate, prostrate shoots near the ground, pale green with a white and violet lip, followed by the small, pale-green, three-sided capsules that are the spice.
It comes from the Western Ghats of southern India and is now grown mainly in Guatemala, which produces most of the world’s crop, as well as in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The capsules are picked by hand just before they ripen and dried slowly, which preserves their green colour and their aroma.
Science & Biotechnology
The characteristic aroma comes from 1,8-cineole, alpha-terpinyl acetate and linalool, and the ratio of these compounds varies with the region and the drying method, which is why Guatemalan and Indian cardamom smell different to a trained nose. The seeds also contain starch and fixed oil, and the husk contributes little to the flavour.
Cardamom is one of the spices whose volatile oil has been studied for antimicrobial and carminative activity, and it appears in European pharmacopoeias as a flavour and a digestive. Its cultivation is labour-intensive, since the capsules ripen unevenly and must be picked every few days through a season of several months. Guatemala’s crop is grown on steep volcanic slopes under shade trees, and the difference in soil and drying explains much of the variation in quality.
Uses & Benefits
The capsules flavour tea, coffee, rice, curries, sweets and baked goods, and in the Gulf they are ground into coffee as a matter of course. Green cardamom is the most valuable form; black cardamom, from a different species, is smoked and used in heavier dishes.
In the garden it is a plant for a warm, humid, shaded corner or a large conservatory, where its arching leaves make a tropical screen. The leaves can be used for wrapping food, and the whole plant has a place in Ayurvedic and Unani practice as a digestive. In India the capsules are also chewed after meals as a breath freshener, and the seeds are added whole to garam masala.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed, which loses viability quickly, in a rich, free-draining mix at 25 to 30 °C. Soak the seed for a day first and sow it shallowly; germination is slow and uneven, taking one to three months, and bottom heat helps.
Grow the seedlings in humid, shaded conditions and keep them moist but never waterlogged. Plant out in rich, well-drained soil under light shade, or grow in a large pot in a conservatory at a minimum of 15 °C. Feed with a balanced fertiliser through the growing season and divide the rhizomes every few years to keep the clump vigorous.
Our Take
The queen of spices, and a handsome foliage plant in its own right. It needs heat, shade and moisture, and rewards a patient grower with capsules in the third year.
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