CARDAMOM
[ELETTARIA CARDOMOMUM]
Cardamom
is a grand spice, high priced and preferred alike as a special ingredient in
preparations of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes. The spice is a
native of Indian subcontinent, but has spread through most continents by the
captivating aroma of the pods and seeds.
The
plant is a member of the family Zingiberaceae,
sharing affinity with Ginger and Turmeric. One can readily recognize that the
members of this family are among the most popular spices and integral to
several culinary systems across the world. All these three spices are
cultivated.
Among
them, Cardamom is a royal spice in the sense that its cultivation requires
several conducive agronomic parameters like Soil, terrain, Climate, frost /dew
through right age of the crop, besides appropriate care, maintenance and pest
control measures. When such requirements are fulfilled a bumper harvest can
occur. However, the price of the produce hinges heavily on size of the pods,
popularity of that variety and a
global demand for it. Despite all constraints, cardamom is a ‘cash crop’ in
farmers’ par lance.
Like
other members of the family, cardamom flowers are attractive and during
development all pods are lowered to the soil more or less at ground level. Pods
are greenish or greenish white with a dense cluster of seeds within. It is the
seeds that form the true spice, though the pod shells too are used in the
preparation sweet items in S.India.
Ultimately
it is the chemical constitution of seeds that confer ‘merit’ to them. With
cinnamon, cardamom seeds are used to flavor beverages especially tea. Together
the two are the twin aromatic additives in varied rice-based items like
‘Briyani’.
Needless
state about the popularity of cardamom pods that give off strong aromatic
resinous fragrance. The aroma is from the essential oils that are said to
represent about 8% by weight. These include alpha-terpineol [45%], myrene [27%]
limonene [8%] menthone [6%] besides, traces of a few other fragrant oils. No
wonder cardamom enjoys appeal by its captivating fragrance.
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