Zingiberaceae (Zingiberaceae) complete fruit or seeds of perennial herbs, or dry powder, scientific name Elettaria cardamomum.
Used as a spice, slightly spicy, taste like camphor.
In the east is food condiment, especially curry food seasoning.
In Scandinavia, commonly used in food seasoning.
The plant native to the humid forests in southern India, pick wild fruit, India, Sri Lanka and Guatemala large amount of cultivation.
Part of the ground leaves from the branches of the roots grow more 1.5 ~ 6 meters high (5 ~ 20 feet);
Flowers 1 meter (3 feet) long, erect or creeping;
Each of the squid have the majority of flowers, flower diameter about 5 cm (2 inches), petals green, labellum white with purple veins.
Full of fruit diameter 8 ~ 15 mm, is green trihedron broadly elliptic capsule, contains 15 ~ 20 grains, red-brown to black brown-black of hard edges in the seed.
Picked before maturity, clean, dry or drying.
With burning sulfur bleaching, drying, winnowing peeled, quick dry shell cardamom.
Essential oil contained in kinds of large thin wall cells, the skin skin, content is 2 ~ 10%;
Main ingredients are eucalyptol and d - z acid pine oil.
Zingiberaceae other genera (e.g., cardamom genera (Amomum), ginger (Alpinia), Aframomum) plants producing spices, sometimes also called cardamom, used for cooking in Africa and Asia, sold or served as a true cardamom.