ABSTRACT
The cardamom of commerce (also known as small cardamom) is the true cardamom, the ‘queen of spices’, and is obtained from the plant botanically known as Elettaria cardamomum Maton, a member of the family Zingiberaceae. In addition, there are many other plants belonging to the genera Amomum and Aframomum, both belonging to the cardamom family, producing aromatic seeds. Among them the most important and the one that is being grown commercially is Amomum subulatum Roxb., the Nepal cardamom or large cardamom (see Chapter 15). The others are clubbed together as false cardamoms. They do not have much of commercial importance except in the case of Aframomum corrorima (A. melegueta, the Korarima cardamom or ‘grains of paradise’), which is cultivated on a small scale in some West African countries. But most of these false cardamoms are important locally as spices and flavourents and as remedies for various ailments. Detailed studies on these species are lacking, though a few have been subjected to chemical analysis. Brief notes on various false cardamoms are given in this chapter.
