Quick Facts about Cardamom or Elettaria Cardamomum:

Quick Facts about Cardamom or Elettaria Cardamomum:

Nomenclature

• Common name: Choti Ilayachi
• Sanskrit name: Truti, Ela
• English name: Cardamom
• Scientific name: Ellattaria Cardamomum

Bio energetics

• Rasa: Madhura, Katu
• Guna: Laghu
• Virya: Sita
• Vipaka: Madhura
• Karma: Anulomana, Dipana, Hridaya, Mrutula, Rocana
• Dosha effect: Balances all three doshas of Kapha, Pitta and Vata; may increase Pitta if used in excess.
• Dhatu (tissue): Plasma, Blood, Marrow, Nerves

Habitat

A member of the Zingiberaceae plant family, this perennial reed-like herb indigenous to South India grows wild in the wild, wet forests of Coorg, Mysore, Wynaad, Travancore, and Cochin. Other countries that cultivate it include Srilanka and Guatemala. It grows up to a height of 4 meters (13 feet) and has long, green silky leaves, small yellowish flowers with a violet tip, and a large fleshy rhizome, that is very similar in appearance to that of ginger (which it is incidentally related to).

Chemical constituents

The seed pods of cardamom have been reported to contain 4 percent of volatile oil, the main chemical components of which are 1,8-cineole, α-terpinyl acetate, and limonene.