Plant · P-637

Black Cardamom

Amomum subulatum

Black cardamom is the large smoky cousin of true cardamom - the dark brown pods are crushed whole into rice, lentils, curries and long-simmered stews, and the seed carries a distinctly camphorous eucalyptus note rather than the sweet one. Leaves, roots, flowers and pods are all edible, and about two-fifths of world production goes not to the kitchen but to pharmacy, cosmetics and perfumery. It is one of the few crops that genuinely prefers deep shade: in the eastern Himalaya it is grown as a permanent understorey beneath Himalayan alder, mulched with the shade trees' own leaf fall, which makes it a rare candidate for productive ground under a canopy where little else will crop. It wants acid soil, steady moisture and no frost, and it spreads slowly outward on a creeping rhizome.