- published: 21 Oct 2015
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Cardamom (or cardamon) refers to several plants of the similar genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India, Nepal and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds. Today, the majority of cardamom is still grown in southern India, although some other countries, such as Guatemala and Sri Lanka, have also begun to cultivate it. Elettaria pods are light green while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown.
It is the world's third most expensive spice by weight, outstripped in market value only by saffron and vanilla.
The word cardamom is derived from the Latin cardamomum, itself the latinisation of the Greek καρδάμωμον (kardamomon), a compound of κάρδαμον (kardamon), "cress" + ἄμωμον (amomon), which was the name for a kind of an Indian spice plant. The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ka-da-mi-ja, written in Linear B syllabic script in the list of flavourings on the "Spice" tablets found among palace archives in the House of the Sphinxes in Mycenae.