Family - Zingiberaceae
Species - Elettaria cardamom
Common Name - Cardamom
Cardamom, known as the “Queen of Spices” is a perennial herbaceous plant with a pseudo stem and thick irregular shaped rhizomes. Cardamom grows wild in the Western Ghats of Southern India. Dried fruit or Cardamom capsule is traded as a spice. There are several commercial grades of cardamom including whole cardamom as primary products in spice trade, ground form as secondary processed products and in the form of extractions of oil and oleoresin as value added products. Cardamom is mainly used in the food industry as a flavoring agent. Cardamom Oil is used for flavoring of beverages and drinks such as coffee and tea.
Cultivation
Cardamom can be found in central hill country of Sri Lanka where elevation is 600M amsl. Kandy, Matale, Kegalle,Nuwara Eliya, Rathnapura and a part of Galle are the major growing districts.
Recommended Varieties
Three types of Cardamom are found in Sri Lanka and they categorized based on the shape of the inflorescence.
• Malabar – Inflorescence is prostrate.
• Mysore – Inflorescence is vertical.
• Vazhukka- Inflorescence is inclined.
Harvesting
Cardamom starts to bear at the 3rd year after planting. Cropping season is September to January. Capsules are picked before they are fully ripen and clipped off using scissors. Harvesting is done at 3 to 6 week intervals for around 03 months. Harvested capsules are washed with water to remove dirt and borer attacked capsules. Capsules should be well drained and dip in a 2% solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) for 10-15 minutes which may help to retain the green color.
Processing
Drying is done in hot air barns known as ‘Green curing’. Capsules are spread on shallow wire mesh bottomed trays and placed on shelves in the chamber at 45-50oC. Drying process will be over in about 35 – 40 hours in curing chamber. The trays may be racked over and their position interchanged every 10 – 12 hours. After drying, capsules should be rubbed on wire mesh to remove stalks and then should be winnowed. Final product is stored away from strong sunlight and in black polythene sacks to preserve the color.
• Dried yield around 60kg /ha. But under good management 250 kg / ha.
Quality specifications
Cardamom is graded into following 5 categories according to the SLS 166:7980 standards.
Grade
|
Colour
|
Splits%
|
G/Lit.
|
Lanka Green
|
Green
|
2
|
370
|
Lanka light green-1
|
Slightly light Green
|
5
|
340
|
Lanka light green -2
|
Light Green
|
6
|
320
|
Lanka Bleached
|
Pale buff
|
8
|
300
|
Lanka non specified
|
Off colour
|
Non specified
|
360
|