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Botanical Name:Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton var. cardamomum.

Synonyms:Amomum cardamomum L.; Elettaria cardamomum L. var. miniscula Burkill; Elettaria cardamomum L. var. minus Watt; cardamom; Mysore cardamom.

Family:Zingiberaceae.

Common Names:French: cardamomier; German: Kardamompflanze; Italian: cardamomo; Spanish: cardamomo; Russian: Kardamon; Hindi: Elaichi.

Introduction

History

The earliest reference to cardamom is from the ancient city of Nippur, Sumaria, dated 2000 BC, on a clay tablet. It indicates that ground cardamom was mixed with bread and added to soups. The Orientals used it over 2,000 years ago to sweeten their breath when appearing before the rulers. The Vikings purchased it from the traders in Constantinople over a thousand years ago. The genus name Elettaria is believed to derive from the Sanskrit elat-eri. In the Susruta Samhita (AD 600) it is named in Sanskrit ela, the seed ela-tari, and the plant or rhizome ela-kai, from whence is derived the modern Hindi elaichi. Cardamom is described in Ayurvedic literature of India from the third century BC. In India, fruits have been traded for at least 1,000 years, and known as Queen of Spices, with pepper the King. The Portuguese traveler Barbosa in 1514 described cardamom exports from the Malabar. Garcia da Orta in 1563 described the differences between the smaller cardamom (var. cardamomum) from India and the larger form (var. major) from Sri Lanka. Although the Arab geographer Idrisi describes cardamom as a product of Sri Lanka in Kitab Rujar, in 1154, Marco Polo does not mention it. The spice remains and is an important component of many South-East Asian dishes. Although Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny used the name amomum and kardamomum for several unrelated spices, it is unlikely that the Greeks or Romans had any access to the true cardamom. Cleopatra filled her chambers with the sweet smell of cardamom smoke before Mark Anthony’s visit to Egypt. It is not mentioned in early European herbals. About 1,000 years, the Vikings found cardamom in the trading area in Constantinople, and thus introduced it into Scandinavia, where it is still very popular. The Greeks and Romans used cardamom over 2,000 years ago in food, perfumes, and medicines. Cardamom was grown in the gardens of Babylon around 700 BC.

Producing Regions

Cardamom is native to India, especially southern India, China, and Sri Lanka. It is cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Malaysia, Indonesia, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Laos.

Botanical Description

Cardamom is a robust, leafy, perennial herb of the ginger family that grows up to 5-m (16 ft) high, with hairless leaves along thick fleshy stalks. It has attractive small white flowers with purple tips on much branched flowering stems that develop into small green, brown, or white three-valved capsules or fruits, each containing several seeds. The fruits containing the oblong red-brown seeds are harvested prior to ripening and dried, which is completed by exposing them to sunlight. The seeds are unusually aromatic, pungent, and spicy with a flavor that is sweet and camphoraceous.

Parts Used

Fruit, seeds, essential oil, and oleoresin. It is used as pods, whole or crushed. The seeds are used whole or ground.

Flavor and Aroma

Pungent, warm and aromatic, sweet. Warm with camphoraceous and lemony undertones. The seed has a pleasant aromatic odor and a very characteristic warm, slightly pungent taste. The green pods have a delicate clean, sweet, and spicy floral flavor with a lemony scent.

Active Constituents

The fruit from India has carbohydrates 42%, fiber 20%, moisture 20%, protein 10%, fat 2%, and ash 6%. It also contains pigments, silica, pentosans, minerals, and volatile oil. The seeds contain moisture 8%, volatile oil 8%, total ash 5%, nonvolatile ether extract 3%, crude fiber 9%, protein 10%, starch 46%, Ca 0.3%, P 0.2%, K 1.2%, and Fe 0.012%, also vitamins: thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid, vit. A (Weiss 2002). The major constituent in volatile oil is 1,8-cineole (up to 50%) and α-terpinyl acetate (up to 50%). The major constituents in seed oils were α-terpinyl acetate, 1,8-cineole, limonene, linalyl acetate, and linalool (Marongiu et al. 2004). The nutritional constituents and ORAC values of cardamom are given in Table 15.1.

Table 15.1 Nutrient composition and ORAC values of cardamom
Full size table

Preparation and Consumption

Cardamom enhances sweet and savory dishes. It is extensively used in curry, coffee, cakes, and bread in India, Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. The fruits, seeds, and oil are used to flavor alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, frozen desserts, baked goods, candies, puddings, meat and meat products, fish, condiments, and other relishes. The pods are used whole or split in Indian meals—such as pulses and pilaus (rice dishes). It is also included in Indian sweet dishes and drinks. It is used in pickles, especially pickled herring. It flavors custards, and some Russian liqueurs. It is a flavoring for Arab and Turkish coffee and Indian tea. It is a very important flavoring in Saudi Arabian foods and beverages. Cardamom is good in beef and veal stews, hamburgers and meatloaf, chicken and turkey pie, fruit salads and soups, split pea soup, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and pies. Scandinavians use cardamom seed in Danish pastries. Green cardamom is an essential ingredient in Indian sweets, puddings, yogurt, and ice creams.

Medicinal Uses and Functional Properties

It is used in carminative, stomachic, and laxative preparations. It is an important Ayurvedic aphrodisiac and remedy in case of digestive problems, asthma, bronchitis, and urinary complaints. It is used against bad breath, cough, and nausea.

Aqueous extracts of cardamom were found to exert immunomodulatory roles and antitumor activities (Majdalawieh and Carr 2010). Regular consumption of tea fortified with herbs including cardamom was shown to enhance NK cell activity, which is an important aspect of the (early) innate immune response to infections (Bhat et al. 2010). The essential oil of cardamom was reported to have strong sporicidal activity (Lawrence and Palombo 2009). Jamal et al. (2006) showed significant gastroprotective effect of various extracts from cardamom fruits. Aqueous suspensions of cardamom provided protective effects on experimentally induced colon carcinogenesis (Sengupta et al. 2005).

Antioxidant Properties

Cardamom fruit powder was found to effectively reduce blood pressure, enhance fibrinolysis, and improve antioxidant status in stage 1 hypertensive individuals. They did not significantly alter blood lipids and fibrinogen levels (Verma et al. 2009). The essential oil of cardamom had significant antioxidant activity (Misharina et al. 2009). Sultana et al. (2010) studied the antioxidant activities of some commonly used spices in Bangladesh and found cardamom to have significant activity. Methanol extracts of several spices including cardamom were found to exert some level of protective ability against peroxynitrite-mediated biomolecular damage (Ho et al. 2008). Administration of a spice mixture, containing cardamom along with fructose diet, reduced the levels of peroxidation markers in tissues and improved the antioxidant status in male Wistar rats (Suganthi et al. 2007). Cardamom along with other spices showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity and metal chelating activity (Yadav and Bhatnagar 2007). Aqueous suspensions of cardamom were shown to enhance the level of detoxifying enzyme (GST activity) with simultaneous decrease in lipid peroxidation levels in the treatment groups when compared to that of the carcinogen control group (Bhattacharjee et al. 2007). Aqueous extract of cardamom protected platelets from aggregation and lipid peroxidation (Suneetha and Krishnakantha 2005). Phenolics have been reported in cardamom and other spices and these spices have shown medicinal properties because of these phenolics (Singh et al. 2004). Nair et al. (1998) reported significant levels of flavonoids in cardamom seeds. Cardamom showed moderate inhibitory effect on the histamine production and histidine decarboxylase activity of Morganella morganii (a potent histamine-producing bacteria in fish) at 30°C (Shakila et al. 1996).

Regulatory Status

GRAS 182.10 and GRAS 182.20.

Standard

ISO 882-1 (whole), ISO 882-2 (seeds), ISO 4733 (Oil).