The Nice Cardamom Caper (Or How I Received Duped by an Impostor)

As soon as upon a time (nicely, in 2017), I wrote a submit a few trio of gingers I used to be rising at house: ginger, turmeric, and cardamom. No less than, I assumed it was cardamom. Whereas I warned would-be home-growers of cardamom to not count on its famously fragrant seeds, as a result of the vegetation hardly ever flowered in captivity, I extolled the virtues of the plant’s “good-looking leaves,” which had a “fantastic fragrance, one thing between scented rose petals and incense,” and which I used to taste dinners and drinks. My description of these scented leaves raised a botanically-informed eyebrow, whose proprietor left a stunning touch upon the submit. My cardamom was not cardamom, they mentioned. And so they have been proper. It seems that many—if not most—vegetation grown and offered as cardamom within the United Sates usually are not. Cardamom, that’s.

Draw nearer for the nice mea culpa and an fascinating story. It’s not essentially the most urgent subject of our occasions, however in case you are plant-obsessed, it’s intriguing.

Images by Marie Viljoen.

I do have an excuse. The flourishing plant that I had been rising open air in summer season and indoors in winter was offered to me by a good grower, Companion Vegetation, in Ohio. I didn’t count on my “cardamom” to bloom (or make seed), as a result of all on-line sources defined that vegetation overwintering indoors by no means would. So I settled fortunately for its mounded, low-maintenance, lush look and its aromatic leaves. The blooms would have confirmed the plant’s id without delay: True cardamom flowers near soil stage, whereas the assorted false cardamoms bloom on the finish of stems.

The perfume of the leaves of the plant that I was rising is among the keys to telling aside true cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) from so-called false cardamoms, which can be Alpinia nutans (generally referred to as cinnamom ginger) and as nicely different species of Alpinia.

I’ve since seen false cardamom rising in multiple botanic backyard’s tropical assortment, confidently labeled Elletaria cardamomum. Curators? Go sniff your leaves. Now.

As quickly as I learn that 2020 touch upon my faulty submit, I went looking for info (however didn’t uncover the id of the commenter). The primary good supply stays perennially mysterious: a WordPress website devoted to a single nameless submit, explaining the distinction, in authoritative element, between true cardamom and false. There are not any different entries, and no contact info. “False cardamoms,” wrote the knowledgeable creator, “(many Alpinias corresponding to Alpinia nutans and A. calcarata), have aromatic leaves when rubbed or crushed.  The leaves of true cardamom ARE NOT FRAGRANT.” Their caps. I went and rubbed my wholesome plant’s lush leaves but once more. They nonetheless smelled scrumptious. Oh, expensive.

Actual-person suggestions from somebody who was conscious of the identity-crisis was required. It got here first from Randy Myers, the eponymous proprietor of Randy’s Tropical Vegetation in Florida, who confirmed in an e-mail that true cardamom doesn’t have aromatic leaves. He was emphatic that the 2 vegetation in query usually are not truly lookalikes: “They’re VERY  completely different from one another,” he wrote. (This subject appears to encourage caps.) He added, “I personally used to promote this plant as ‘true’ cardamom, as a result of it was offered to me as true cardamom.” His personal second of enlightenment got here when an Indonesian good friend despatched him footage of a cardamom plantation there. And he determined towards rising the true deal, as a result of “even in Florida it requires a greenhouse… The reality is,” he concluded, “that Alpinia nutans, which is nearly definitely what you could have, is a a lot prettier, simpler to develop, and finally extra helpful plant.”

One other commenter on that submit of mine started to domesticate cardamom on the market extra not too long ago, going to meticulous lengths to explain the variations between the true and the false. Aaron Cagle is a biologist who owns a Wizard Tree Nursery, in Florida. Decided to supply real Elettaria cardamomum to prospects, he propagated his vegetation from rhizomes acquired in India. The vegetation have been wholesome. After which they bloomed. Not as soil stage, however on the finish of stem. “Duped,” he wrote in a latest e-mail to me.