Cardamom

1. Popularly known as ‘Queen of Spices’ as opposed to Black Pepper hailed as ‘King of Spice’, Cardamom, sometimes spelt as cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. The cardamom plant is a perennial herbaceous plant with a pseudostem and thick irregular shaped rhizomes. Dried fruit or cardamom pod is traded as a spice.

Due to the unique flavour of green cardamom cultivated in Sri Lanka, formed by the country’s unique terroir, green cardamom produced in Sri Lanka is known as Ceylon Cardamom.

Ceylon Cardamom is available in various forms in the global market;

• The whole Cardamom is the whole pod, with seeds intact.
• Ground cardamom is the cardamom powder. Cardamom is usually known for having a reduction of flavour once the seeds are ground but is used in culinary recipes
• Cardamom oil is the essential oil derived from cardamom pods through steam distillation. Known for its uplifting and energizing fragrance, Cardamom oil has a therapeutic and aromatic blend. The clear and thin oil is ideal to blend with other oils and has a spicy, woody, and sweet aroma.

The country serves about 0.1% of the global demand for cardamom which amounts to 4000 to 5000t per annum. India, Australia, Canada and Estonia are the main buyers of Ceylon Cardamom, which is available in two grades; namely LG Lanka Green Cardamom (LG) and Lanka Light Green Cardamom (LLG).

In Sri Lanka, cardamom is mainly cultivated in the districts of Kandy, Matale, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura and a part of Galle. Three types of Cardamom are found in Sri Lanka and they’re categorized based on the shape of the inflorescence.

• Malabar – Inflorescence is prostrate.
• Mysore – Inflorescence is vertical.
• Vazhukka- Inflorescence is inclined.

Consumption of cardamom has drastically gone up throughout the world during the last two decades. Cardamom is mainly consumed in the Middle Eastern countries, India, Pakistan, European countries, the USA, and Japan. In fact, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and South-East Asian countries such as India, account for over 60% of the global consumption.