Cardamom, sometimes called Grains of Paradise, is a pungent, aromatic herb first used around the eighth century, and is a native of India. It was probably imported into Europe around A.D. 1214.
Today, cardamom is cultivated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand and Central America.
The spice known as cardamom is the fruit of several plants of the general Elettaria belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, whose principal member is Elettaria Cardamomum. The plant it self is a perennial herb with a thick, fleshy rootstock which sends up flowering stems from 6 to 12 feet high.
Cardamom is the dried fruit of a herbaceous perennial and in Nepal it is mainly grown in East Nepal, Warm humid climate, loamy soil rich in organic matter, distributed rainfall, special cultivation and processing methods all combines to make Nepali cardamom truly unique in aroma, flavor, size and color.Although cardamom is little valued in Western countries, it is among the oldest spices and is very popular in Sri Lanka, India and Iran and in Saudi Arabia as an essential ingredient to Arab coffee (60% of the world production is exported in Arab countries). Yet not all cardamom is consumed for coffee in Arab countries but is used for cookery. Cardamom is also a popular spice in Northern Africa and Eastern Africa, where population is predominantly Arabic whereas in Europe cardamom is unknown, but may appear in some cookie recipes.
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