Cardamom

Two different plants are sold as cardamom, and they smell nothing alike. Green cardamom is the sweet, eucalyptus-bright one used in baking and chai. Black cardamom is smoke-cured over wood fires and comes out tarry and savoury. Green cardamom runs on alpha-terpinyl acetate and 1,8-cineole, and in lab tests held back E. coli and Pseudomonas.^[1] In rats it protected the stomach lining against induced ulcers, which fits its old use as a digestive.^[2]

Green Cardamom

Elettaria cardamomum

Also Known As: Cardamom, True Cardamom
Family: Spice
Perfumery Note: Middle
Intensity: Medium
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Seeds
Origins: Guatemala, India, Sri Lanka
Effect: Energy & Uplifting, Focus & Mental Clarity
Aroma: Spicy, Sweet, Balsamic
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Massage & Body, Perfumery & Fragrance Making, Cooking & Flavouring
Price: $$$$One of the world's most expensive spices; the oil yield is small and the pods are hand-picked

Green cardamom oil is distilled from the seeds inside the pod. About a third is alpha-terpinyl acetate, which gives the sweetness, and a quarter is 1,8-cineole, which gives the eucalyptus lift. That combination is why cardamom smells both sweet and cooling at once. In lab tests it held back E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two gut and wound bacteria, at low concentrations.^[1] In rats it protected the stomach lining against induced ulcers.^[2]

Black Cardamom

Amomum subulatum

Also Known As: Large Cardamom, Greater Cardamom, Nepal Cardamom, Brown Cardamom
Family: Spice
Perfumery Note: Middle
Intensity: Strong
Extraction: Steam Distillation
Plant Parts: Seeds
Origins: Nepal, India, Bhutan
Effect: Respiratory Support, Grounding & Centering
Aroma: Smoky, Camphoraceous, Woody, Spicy
Applications: Diffusing & Inhalation, Perfumery & Fragrance Making, Cooking & Flavouring
Price: $$$$Large cardamom pods are more abundant and less labor-intensive to harvest than true green cardamom, keeping oil costs comparatively moderate despite the extra fire-curing step.

Black cardamom is a different genus, and the pods are dried over open wood fires. That smoking is what gives the oil its tarry, campfire character, quite unlike green cardamom's sweetness. Chemically it swaps the sweet ester for 1,8-cineole, which makes up nearly half the oil.^[3] In lab tests it held back Pseudomonas, E. coli and Acinetobacter baumannii, a hospital bacterium that resists most drugs.^[3] Applied to skin it calmed inflammation in animal testing, which fits its Ayurvedic use for chest and gut complaints.^[4]

Essential Nose

Cardamom

Green Cardamom

Black Cardamom

References