Cardamom

Fresh, spicy and camphoraceous, with a green, herbal character.

Cardamom grows wild in the mountain forests of the Western Ghats in south-west India. Today the world's largest producer and exporter is Guatemala.

The dried pods are opened, the seeds ground and steam-distilled. Depending on the variety, the seeds contain 2 to 10 % essential oil – so 1 kg of oil takes roughly 10 to 50 kg of seed.

Cardamom brings a fresh, spicy clarity to a fragrance – carried by α-terpinyl acetate and 1,8-cineole, the two main components of the oil.

Spicy, with a fresh, camphoraceous side.

Cardamom reached Guatemala in the early 20th century, when the German coffee planter Oscar Majus Kloeffer brought the seeds to Cobán in Alta Verapaz. That planting grew into today's largest producing country in the world.

• By weight, cardamom is among the world's most expensive spices, after saffron and vanilla.
• On the Arabian Peninsula, cardamom goes into the coffee – a sign of hospitality.
• In Scandinavia, cardamom is still a classic baking spice.

The oil's main molecule is α-terpinyl acetate (C₁₂H₂₀O₂), 36 to 62 % of the oil in studies; alongside it is 1,8-cineole (C₁₀H₁₈O, also called eucalyptol), at up to about 31 %. Boiling points for comparison: 1,8-cineole boils at 176 to 177 °C, α-terpinyl acetate at about 220 °C – the more volatile cineole tends to come through first in a fragrance, while the terpinyl acetate lasts longer.