Life of Cardamom
Cardamom or Elaichi the third most expensive spice in the world with an impressive flavours profile, a mix of peppery, piney, menthol, eucalyptus, floral, citrus, minty, woody, herbal, or smoky notes, used in various Indian curries to Scandinavian breads, learn all about the life cardamom.
Cardomom or Elettaria cardamom maton var major / minor is one of the oldest known spices in the world with evidence of its use dating back around 5000 years, the natural evergreen forests of the western ghats in Southern India from where it first originated from is its natural habitat, a place known as cardamom hills in Kerala, India. Today India, Indonesia, Guatemala, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Laos, Bhutan, Tanzania etc are some of the top producers. Cardamom are of green and black, green Cardamom produced in India are of various varieties, ICRI 1 to ICRI 8, PV 1-2, Mudigere 1-3, Appangala 1-2, IISR Suvasini, IISR Avinash and IISR Vijetha, sizes of which ranges from 6 to 8++ mm, the market prices for which changes frequently and are based on their sizes, demand and variety averaging around 17USD to 33USD, in 2022 the global production stood at 183M Kg and is on the rise at 6.1% CAGR. Cardamom thrives with a well-distributed annual rainfall of 1500-2500 mm with a mean temperature of 15°C to 35°C and 600-1200 meters above MSL. The plant is a perennial under crop, basically a sciophyte plant growing under shade in evergreen forests, grows to a height of 2-4 meters and maturing in about 20-22 months having a lifespan of 30years, but their economic yield after 3rd year can go up to 8-12 years producing year round peaking between Jan to Mar, cardamom after harvest is washed and is either sun dried or flue cured, where the moisture content is reduced from 80% to 10-12% and further it becomes less than 10% during storage, it is sold as seeds, oil, powder, dried or as a mature fruit. Cardamom is well sought after and included in ones diet due to their various health benefits from digestive health, lowering blood pressure & blood sugar, anti-stress & anti-depressant like effects, skin health, respiratory health, antioxidant, weight loss etc,