10/09/2019
Cardamom
The word "cardamom" is derived from the Latin cardamomum which is the Latinisation of the Greek (kardamomon).
Cardamom is the world's third-most expensive spice, surpassed in price per weight only by vanilla and saffron.
Cardamom, sometimes called, 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.
Cardamom, which is also called Grains of Paradise, is native to the East originating in the forests of the western ghats in southern India, where it grows wild. Cardamom plants grow wild in parts of the monsoon forests of the Western Ghats in southern India. This area has become known as the Cardamom Hills.
Although India is the largest producer of cardamom, only a small share of the Indian production is exported because of the large domestic demand. The main exporting country is Guatemala, where cardamom cultivation has been introduced to less than a century ago and where all cardamom is grown for export.