How to Grow Flavorful Cardamom in Your Home Garden | Gardener's Path

Spicy, citrusy, minty… it’s difficult to describe the flavor of cardamom, other than to say it’s delicious!

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This tropical perennial herb is treasured for its use in the cuisines of India, the Middle East, and surprisingly, Sweden.

Cardamom is a spice made from the seeds of two different species in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae.

The spice is made from the seeds which are found in small, thin pods. The pods have triangular cross section and a paper-like outer covering.

Before we get too far, let’s chat about color. This article focuses on Elettaria cardamomum, commonly called green cardamom.

You may have also heard of black cardamom, which comes from Amomum subulatum or Lanxangia tsaoko (formerly known as Amomum tsao-ko), and white cardamom, which usually refers to a bleached form of the green variety.

Here we’ll concentrate on the green version, which is often included on lists of the most expensive spices because of its labor-intensive commercial harvesting process.

E. cardamomum is a 5- to 10-foot-tall forest-dwelling plant that thrives in partial shade.

As you might have guessed from our earlier allusion to its tropical nature, it can be grown as an outdoor perennial only in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 and 11. South Florida, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, this one’s for you!

The clumping plant, with rigid and erect stems featuring leaves that are up to 2 feet long, regrows each year from large underground rhizomes.

Let’s learn more about growing this heady spice!

Native to the mountainous