Cardamom (E. cardamomum or Elettaria cardamomum), commonly known as green or true cardamom refers to plants belonging to the ginger (Zingiberaceae) family’s Elettaria (green) and Amomum (black) genera.
It is indigenous to southern India’s wet woods. The fruit can be harvested from wild plants, although the majority is grown in Guatemala, India, and Sri Lanka.
By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Guatemala had overtaken all other countries as the world’s top producer of this spice, producing an average of 25,000 to 29,000 tons annually.
A German coffee farmer named Oscar Majus Kloeffer introduced the cardamom plant there in 1914. India used to be the world’s largest producer, but since 2000, it has dropped to second place.
It’s a common element in Scandinavian pastries as well as South Asian cuisine, particularly curries.
Sometimes the term is used to refer to commercial adulterants of real cardamoms or to other related ginger family spices (Amomum, Aframomum, Alpinia) that are used in Asian and African cuisines.
Describe the flavor of cardamom. It’s a distinctive and intricate blend that’s sometimes referred to as both savory and sweet.
The cells under the cardamom seed coat’s epidermis are where the cardamom essential oil is found. A seed’s cardamom oil concentration ranges from 2 to 10 percent, and its main ingredients are cineole and Terpinyl acetate.
The oil is utilized as a fragrance in perfumes, soaps, detergents, and other body care items in addition to giving medications their flavor.
Cardamom comes in three varieties: green, Madagascar, and black. For most recipes, green cardamom is used. The flavor is often robust, slightly sweet, and flowery.
Cardamom pods or capsules must be selected when they are three-quarters of the way ready because they ripen slowly.
The pods are then cleaned and dried after harvesting. The final color is determined by the drying process. The cardamom spice is made up of the three cardamom seeds that are found inside each pod.
Similar to real cinnamon and vanilla, high-quality cardamom can be an expensive spice to purchase, but it’s so pungent that most recipes only call for a teaspoon or less of it, so it will last a long time.
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6 Health Benefits of Cardamom (E. cardamomum)
Both varieties of cardamom are used as cooking spices, flavorings for food and beverages, and medications. E. Cardamomum, also known as green cardamom, is smoked and used as a masticator and spice.
1. Helps Treat Cavities
Along with destroying the germs that cause foul breath, this spice may also help you avoid developing cavities on your teeth or even reverse tooth decay. It has all the astringent advantages of chewing gum but none of the drawbacks (like stickiness).
Chewing cardamom can help promote a cleansing salivary flow and kill oral bacteria in addition to mechanically cleaning your teeth thanks to the fibrous outer layer of the pod and its somewhat astringent but pleasant flavor.
2. Aids Cancer Treatment
Even when it comes to cancer, this regenerating plant shows potential as a natural cancer treatment. It can be utilized as a chemopreventive agent, or something that is used to suppress, postpone, or reverse the development of cancer, according to animal studies. Animal skin health improved, according to a 2012 study that was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.
Researchers discovered that oral administration of cardamom powder significantly decreased the frequency and amount of malignancies. Cardamom may be useful as a chemopreventive agent for skin cancer with two stages, according to the study’s findings.
Generally speaking, this spice’s phytochemicals, like cineole and limonene, have demonstrated the capacity to act as preventatives against the spread of cancer.
3. Lowers Blood Pressure
You might be able to lower your blood pressure by using cardamom. Maintaining the health of your heart and kidneys depends on doing this.
Twenty newly diagnosed patients with primary stage 1 hypertension were evaluated in a study by the Indigenous Drug Research Center at the Department of Medicine at RNT Medical College in India. The results of the study were published in the Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics.
The outcomes were excellent. Cardamom not only assisted in lowering systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure, but it also resulted in a 90% rise in total antioxidant status after three months.
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4. Enhances Oral Health
Cardamom already helps the hair and scalp, so why are we telling you that it also has a natural benefit for dental health? Absolutely! Cardamom spice’s health advantages also aid in preventing foul breath!
The essential oil of cardamom is what gives it its potent flavor and aroma. While the taste alone may help to stimulate your salivary production (preventing dental cavities), it also helps to give you fresher breath. If you combine cardamom with other breath-improving spices, like anise, it can be especially useful for treating foul breath.
After reading this, you could think about incorporating cardamom into your morning ritual because it will make you look (and smell) fantastic.
5. For Asthma
Moving from one system to the next, cardamom offers a further health advantage by assisting in the fight against asthma and associated symptoms, including coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
The spice has anti-inflammatory and crude compounds that are beneficial to your respiratory system. Cardamom can naturally loosen mucous membranes and tracheal tissues, open previously closed windpipes, and enhance blood flow to the lungs.
Although further research on this particular health benefit of cardamom is still being conducted, experts are leaning more towards green cardamom for its potential help in treating other respiratory conditions outside asthma, such as bronchitis.
6. Anti-depressant
Cardamom has already impressed us with its ability to prevent cancer. There is a well-founded theory that cardamom also contains anti-depressant effects, so here is another health advantage for you!
Cardamom spice aids those who suffer from depression in two main ways. Simple cardamom seed boiling in water is one method. It is claimed to help you relax if you drink that mixture every day with your tea.
Cardamom has additional health benefits, including its ability to naturally alleviate sadness through aromatherapy. Headaches, anxiety, pain, and difficulty sleeping are just a few of the challenging physical issues that aromatherapy can treat.
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