If pepper is the “King of Spices” then cardamom is the “Queen of Spices”. One of the most exotic and highly prized spices, Indian green cardamom or small cardamom (choti elaichi) has a history that is as old as human civilization. The dried fruit of aherbaceous perennial, green cardamom is grown mainly in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, on the shady slopes of the Western Ghats. Warm humid climate, loamy soil rich in organic matter, distributed rainfall and special cultivation and processing methods all combine to make Indian green cardamom truly unique in aroma, flavour and size thus rendering the temping parrot-green colour.

Special characteristics :

Grade designation	AGEB	AGB	AGS
Trade Name	Cardamom Extra Bold	Cardamom Bold	Cardamom Superior
Colour	Deep Green, or Light green	-do-	-do-
Empty and malformed capsules percentage by count (max.)	2.0	2.0	3.0
Immature and shrivelled capsules percentage by weight (max.)	2.0	2.0	5.0
Blacks and splits percent by count (max.)	0.0	0.0	0.0
Size (diameter of the hole in mm) of the sieve on which retained***	7.0	6.0	5.0
Weight in G/L (min.)	435	415	385