By Ines Keane
The word covers two different plants. They share a name, a pod and a place on the spice shelf, and little else. Sorting them out is the first job, and the sources are clear about it.
Green and black
Wikipedia says green, or true, cardamom comes from Elettaria cardamomum, native to India’s Malabar Coast. Bleached, it is sold as white cardamom. Black cardamom comes from Amomum subulatum, native to the eastern Himalayas. It is larger and smokier, and Wikipedia says it is mainly grown in eastern Nepal, Sikkim, the Darjeeling district of West Bengal and southern Bhutan. Britannica, in the part of its article we could read, describes cardamom as the dried fruits and seeds of Elettaria cardamomum, a plant in the ginger family, with a warm, slightly pungent and highly aromatic flavour. It names South Asian dishes and Scandinavian pastries among its uses.
Where the green kind grows in India
Wikipedia says Kerala is by far the most productive Indian state, with the main districts Idukki, Palakkad and Wynad. It adds that cardamom grown above 600 m is considered higher quality. Wikipedia’s page on Idukki places the district in the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats, calls it the largest district in Kerala by area, at 4,612 km², and records the nickname “The Spice Garden of Kerala”. The district’s listed elevation is 1,200 m, and the Periyar River, Kerala’s longest, rises there.
Wikipedia says plants are grown on private property or on government land leased to farmers, that plants bear for three or four years and that a plantation historically lasted about eight or nine years.
The year, from flower to floor
Flowering runs from April to May, according to Wikipedia. The main harvest is in October and November, and in unusually wet weather it can stretch into December. That is the reason this is a late-autumn story.
The harvested fruit is spread on prepared floors and sun-dried, usually for four or five days. In rainy weather artificial heat is needed, but Wikipedia says this reduces the fruit’s colour. It also says growers sometimes bleach the fruit with steam, sulphur vapour or ritha nuts. The page does not cover grading, so we say nothing about grades.
Dates in order
- 126 CE: cardamom is taxed as an import in Alexandria, according to Wikipedia.
- Medieval period: Venice is the main western importer, according to Wikipedia.
- 16th century: the Portuguese enter the trade, according to Wikipedia.
- 1873 and 1874: Ceylon exports about 4,100 kg a year, rising to 10,490 kg in 1881 to 1882, according to Wikipedia.
- 1979 to 1980: Guatemala overtakes India in world production, according to Wikipedia.
- 2022: reported world production of 138,888 tonnes, counted together with nutmeg and mace, according to Wikipedia.
The Guatemala twist
Guatemala grows the same green species. Wikipedia says it overtook India in world production in 1979 to 1980, that Alta Verapaz Department produces about 70 per cent of its cardamom and that a German coffee planter, Oscar Majus Kloeffer, introduced the crop before World War I. After World War II, output rose to about 13,000 to 14,000 tons a year, according to the same page.
Wikipedia’s 2022 figures, reported with nutmeg and mace, give India 41,000 tonnes, Indonesia 40,565 tonnes and Guatemala 36,407 tonnes. The joint category means these numbers do not show cardamom alone, and we do not compare them as if they did.
Side by side
Two things in the sources pull against each other. Wikipedia’s Idukki page calls the district’s dam both one of the highest arch dams in Asia and Asia’s largest, which are different claims. That has no bearing on spices, but it is a reminder that the page is uneven. On cardamom proper, the two sources we could read for the plant agree on the species and the flavour and add to each other rather than conflict. Our reading: the picture of the crop is consistent, and thin. We have no source for how Kerala’s pods are graded or auctioned, so we do not describe either.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, for the crop, the harvest and the production figures, and for the Idukki facts. Britannica for the plant and its flavour, though only the opening and section headings loaded. The national Spices Board catalogue refused automated reading, so no trade-body source is included.
Questions a reader would ask
Is black cardamom just green cardamom roasted? No. According to Wikipedia they are different plants, Amomum subulatum and Elettaria cardamomum.
Why do guides suggest autumn? Wikipedia puts the main harvest in October and November, so that is when fresh pods are on the drying floors.
Does altitude matter? Wikipedia says cardamom grown above 600 m is considered higher quality. It does not say who considers it so.
What we left out
Prices, auction details, grade names, medicinal claims, and recipe advice. The ancient-medicine history on the Wikipedia page was also left out because the page gives it without dates we could use.
Quick answers
When is cardamom harvested in Kerala? According to Wikipedia, the main harvest runs through October and November, and can extend into December in unusually wet weather.
What is the difference between green and black cardamom? Wikipedia says green is Elettaria cardamomum from India’s Malabar Coast, while black is Amomum subulatum from the eastern Himalayas, larger and smokier.
Which country overtook India in cardamom? Wikipedia says Guatemala overtook India in world production in 1979 to 1980, with Alta Verapaz producing about 70 per cent of its crop.
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