Buy Cardamon (Cardamom) in Bulk (Dried)

Offering Whole Cardamon Pods & Powdered Cardamon

Cardamon (or cardamom) refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are recognized by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds.

Elettaria pods are light green while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown. The word cardamon is derived from the Latin cardamomum, the latinization of the Greek kardamomon. The earliest attested form of the word kardamon is of the second millennium BCE Bronze Age Mycenaean Greek ka-da-mi-ja, written in Linear B syllabic script, found among the list of flavorings on the “Spice” tablets found among palace archives in the House of the Sphinxes in Mycenae. It is the world's third most expensive spice by weight, outstripped in terms of its market value by only saffron and vanilla.

Why Buy Cardamon?

Cardamon - Uses

Both forms of cardamom (cardamon) are used as flavorings in both food and drink, as cooking spices and as a medicine. Elettaria cardamomum (the usual type of cardamon) is used as a spice, a masticatory, and in medicine; it is also smoked sometimes.

Food and Drink

Cardamon 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 cardamon is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart the flavor. Cardamom is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground they quickly lose their flavor. However, high-quality ground cardamom is often more readily (and cheaply) available and is an acceptable substitute. 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 in 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 that are as much as forty percent 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 Wrigley's ('Eclipse Breeze Exotic Mint') where it states "with cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odors." It has been known to be used for gin making.

Traditional Medicine

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.

Where to Buy Cardamon?

Africa's spice farms produce large quantities of green cardamon for export. TheSpiceBunch chooses and supervises quality cardamon for its clients. We make sure you get what you pay for :)