Cardamom

Cardamom
File:Elettaria cardamomum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-057.jpg
True Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Zingiberaceae
Genera
Amomum Elettaria

Cardamom (or cardamon) refers to several plants of the similar genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pods, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery, outer shell and small black seeds. Guatemala is the biggest producer and exporter of cardamom in the world, followed by India. Some other countries, such as Sri Lanka, have also begun to cultivate it. Elettaria pods are light green while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown.

It is the world's third most expensive spice by weight, outstripped in market value only by saffron and vanilla.

Etymology

The word "cardamom" is derived from the Latin cardamomum, itself the latinisation of the Greek καρδάμωμον (kardamomon), a compound of κάρδαμον (kardamon), "cress" + ἄμωμον (amomon), which was the name for a kind of an Indian spice plant. The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ka-da-mi-ja, written in Linear B syllabic script, in the list of flavourings on the "Spice" tablets found among palace archives in the House of the Sphinxes in Mycenae.

In the New Testament (which was largely written in Greek), the name amomon [ἄμωμον] appears in reference to an aromatic plant. This could be derived - and some books state so - from the adjective amomos [ἄμωμος] "blameless, without reproach"; given, however, that amomos is a regional and poetic form, this may be less probable than (what other books state) the derivation from Aramaic hemama, which was not able to be verified.

The modern genus name Elettaria is derived from the local name in a South Asian tongue; cf. Hindi ilaychi [इलायची] and Punjabi ilaichi [ਇਲੈਚੀ] "green cardamom". The common source is Sanskrit, where cardamom is called ela [एला] or ellka [एल्ल्का], which is itself a loan from a Dravidian language. From the corresponding Dravidian root, ĒL, all modern names of cardamom in the major Dravidian languages are directly derived, e. g., Kannada elakki [ಏಲಕ್ಕಿ], Telugu yelakulu [యేలకులు], Tamil elakkai [ஏலக்காய்] and Malayalam elakkay [ഏലക്കായ്]. The second element kai means "vegetable".

Types and distribution

File:Black and green cardamom.jpg

Green and black cardamom

The two main genera of the ginger family named as forms of cardamom are distributed as follows:

• Elettaria (commonly called cardamom, green cardamom, or true cardamom) is distributed from India to Malaysia.
• Amomum (commonly known as black cardamom, brown cardamom, kravan, Java cardamom, Bengal cardamom, Siamese cardamom, white cardamom, or red cardamom) is distributed mainly in Asia and Australia.

The two types of cardamom, κάρδαμομον and ἄμωμον, were distinguished in the fourth century BCE by the Greek father of botany, Theophrastus. Some of his informants told him that these varieties came to Greece from the land of the Medes in northern Persia, while others were aware it came originally from India.

Ecology

Elettaria cardamomum is used as a food plant by the larvae of the moth Endoclita hosei.

Varieties

File:Cardamom plant.jpg

Cardamom plant

There were initially three natural varieties of green cardamom plants.

• Malabar (Nadan/Native), as the name suggests, is the native variety of Kerala. These plants have panicles which grow horizontally along the ground.
• Mysore, as the name suggests, is a native variety of Karnataka. These plants have panicles which grow vertically upwards. The mysore variety has however declined in the past few decades owing to the emergence of the more resistant and better yielding "Green Gold" variety, and which is most commonly form of cardamom harvested in Kerala.
• Vazhuka is a naturally occurring hybrid between Malabar and Mysore varieties, and the panicles grow neither vertically nor horizontally, but in between.

Recently, a few planters isolated high-yielding plants and started multiplying them on a large scale. The most popular high-yielding variety is 'Njallani'. 'Njallani, also known as rup-ree-t, is a unique high-yielding cardamom variety developed by an Indian farmer, Sebastian Joseph, at Kattappana in the South Indian state of Kerala. K. J. Baby of Idukki district, Kerala, has developed a purely white flowered variety of Vazhuka type green cardamom having higher yield than Njallani. The variety has high adaptability to different shade conditions and can also be grown in waterlogged areas.

Uses

Template:Unreferenced section Both forms of cardamom are used as flavorings in both food and drink, as cooking spices and as a medicine. E. cardamomum (green cardamom) is used as a spice, a masticatory, and in medicine; it is also smoked sometimes.

Food and drink

File:Spice shop in Kandy Market, Sri Lanka.jpg

Spice shop in Sri Lanka

Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more smokey, though not bitter, aroma, with a coolness some consider similar to mint.

Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart flavor. It is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground, they quickly lose their flavor. However, high-quality ground cardamom seed is often more readily (and cheaply) available and is an acceptable substitute. Grinding the pods and seeds together lowers both the quality and the price. For recipes requiring whole cardamom pods, a generally accepted equivalent is 10 pods equals 1½ teaspoons of ground cardamom.

It is a common ingredient in Indian cooking and is often used in baking in Nordic countries, such as in the Finnish sweet bread pulla or in the Scandinavian bread Julekake. In the Middle East, green cardamom powder is used as a spice for sweet dishes, as well as traditional flavouring in coffee and tea. Cardamom pods are ground together with coffee beans to produce a powdered mixture of the two, which is boiled with water to make coffee. Cardamom is used to some extent in savoury dishes. In some Middle Eastern countries, coffee and cardamom are often ground in a wooden mortar, a mihbaj, and cooked together in a skillet, a mehmas, over wood or gas, to produce mixtures as much as 40% cardamom.

In South Asia, green cardamom is often used in traditional Indian sweets and in masala chai (spiced tea). Black cardamom is sometimes used in garam masala for curries. It is occasionally used as a garnish in basmati rice and other dishes. It is often referred to as fat cardamom due to its size. Individual seeds are sometimes chewed and used in much the same way as chewing gum. It is even used by confectionery giant Wrigley; its Eclipse Breeze Exotic Mint packaging indicates that it contains "cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odors." It has been known to be used for gin making and in tisanes.

Traditional medicine

File:CardamonEssOil.png

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) essential oil in clear glass vial

Template:Unreferenced section Green cardamom is broadly used in South Asia to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom. Amomum is used as a spice and as an ingredient in traditional medicine in systems of the traditional Chinese medicine in China, in Ayurveda in India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Species in the genus Amomum are also used in traditional Indian medicine. Among other species, varieties and cultivars, Amomum villosum cultivated in China, Laos and Vietnam is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat stomach issues, constipation, dysentery, and other digestion problems. Tsaoko cardamom Amomum tsao-ko is cultivated in Yunnan, China and northwest Vietnam, both for medicinal purposes and as a spice.

Main constituents:

The content of essential oil in the seeds is strongly dependent on storage conditions, but may be as high as 8%. In the oil were found α-terpineol 45%, myrcene 27%, limonene 8%, menthone 6%, β-phellandrene 3%, 1,8-cineol 2%, sabinene 2% and heptane 2%. (Phytochemistry, 26, 207, 1987) Other sources report 1,8-cineol (20 to 50%), α-terpenylacetate (30%), sabinene, limonene (2 to 14%) and borneol.

In the seeds of round cardamom from Jawa (A. kepulaga), the content of essential oil is lower (2 to 4%), and the oil contains mainly 1,8 cineol (up to 70%) plus β-pinene (16%); further­more, α-pinene, α-terpineol and humulene were found.

World production

Guatemala is the largest producer of cardamom in the world, with an average annual yield of between 25,000 to 29,000 metric tons. India is the second producer worldwide (formerly the largest), generating approximately 15,000 metric tons annually. Cardamom was first introduced to Guatemala in 1914.

Increased demand since the 1980s, principally from China, for both Amomum villosum and Amomum tsao-ko has provided a key source of income for poor farmers living at higher altitudes in localized areas of China, Laos and Vietnam, people typically isolated from many other markets. Nepal was previously the world's largest producer of large cardamom.

According to estimates of the Asociación de Cardamomeros de Guatemala (Cardegua) the harvest of 2012 will reach to about 29,000 metric tons, 12 percent more than in 2011 when they were 26,000 metric tons.

Gallery

• Flower of cardamom.jpg

  Cardamom flower

• Cardamom-Dried-Seeds01.jpg

  Cardamom fruit and seeds

• Elettaria cardamomum Capsules and seeds.jpg

  Green cardamom pods and seeds

• Green Cardamom.JPG

  Jar of green cardamom

• Cardamom.JPG

  White cardamom pods in a bowl

• Elettaria cardamomum capsules.jpg

  Cardamom pods as used as a spice in India

See also

• Aframomum corrorima, known as 'Ethiopian cardamom'

Bibliography

1. CardamomHQ: In-depth information on Cardamom
2. Mabberley, D.J. The Plant-book: A Portable Dictionary of the Higher Plants. Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-34060-8
3. Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages: Cardamom
4. Plant Cultures: botany and history of Cardamom
5. Pham Hoang Ho 1993, Cay Co Vietnam [Plants of Vietnam: in Vietnamese], vols. I, II & III, Montreal.
6. Buckingham, J.S. & Petheram, R.J. 2004, Cardamom cultivation and forest biodiversity in northwest Vietnam, Agricultural Research and Extension Network, Overseas Development Institute, London UK.
7. Aubertine, C. 2004, Cardamom (Amomum spp.) in Lao PDR: the hazardous future of an agroforest system product, in 'Forest products, livelihoods and conservation: case studies of non-timber forest products systems vol. 1-Asia, Center for International Forestry Research. Bogor, Indonesia.