Cardamom
50 fragrances with this note
Part of accords: Fresh spicy, Soft spicy, Oriental, Spicy oriental
- Latin name
- Elettaria cardamomum
- Family
- Ginger family (Zingiberaceae)
- Origin
- Guatemala, India (Kerala), Sri Lanka
- Parts used
- seeds from the green pods
- Raw materials
- essential oil, CO₂ extract
- Extraction
- steam distillation or CO₂ extraction of the seeds
- Olfactory group
- spicy (fresh spices)
- Position in the pyramid
- top and heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- terpinyl acetate, eucalyptol (components of the natural oil)
Cardamom is a perennial herbaceous plant of the ginger family that grows in shady mountain forests. Its green pods are picked by hand slightly unripe and dried. It is the seeds inside that smell: small, angular and dark brown.
How it smells: a fresh, cool spice with shades of eucalyptus, lemon and lavender, and underneath a warm, sweetish tone. Cardamom is a “light” spice: it does not burn like cinnamon or clove but adds light and elegance to a fragrance.
Cardamom is one of the most expensive spices in the world after saffron and vanilla. Today Guatemala grows the most, although the plant's homeland is the Western Ghats in southern India.
What it pairs with: with bergamot and lavender — fresh masculine compositions, with rose and oud — oriental fragrances, with coffee, vanilla and tonka — gourmands, with cedar and vetiver — modern “spiced woods”.
Good to know: in the Middle East coffee is traditionally brewed with cardamom — one of the region's best-known “scents of hospitality”, which is why cardamom often appears next to a coffee note in perfumes.
Fragrances with Cardamom
