Elettaria cardamomum seeds, steam distilled, from India.
Cardamom, a wonderful culinary spice that tonifies the body's vital energy. Good for digestion, cardamom is also an earth element that stabilizies and balances bodily energy.
Aroma: Spicy, woody, rich, sweet - like the spice and recalling the flavour of many Indian sweets and teas. This has a lighter, fresher scent than the other cardamom.
History: Cardamom was well known in ancient times. The Egyptians used it in perfumes and incense and chewed it to whiten their teeth. The Romans used it for their stomachs when they over-indulged. The Arabs have used it ground in their coffee since antiquity. It is an important ingredient in Asian cooking.
Colour: Clear
Consistency: Thin
Perfumery Note: Middle
Strength of Initial Aroma: Medium
Common Uses: Cardamom is particularly helpful for the digestive system. It works as a laxative and soothes colic, wind, dyspepsia and nausea, even nausea caused by pregnancy. It warms the stomach and helps with heartburn. As a massage oil or diluted in the bath, cardamom oil can assist with: digestive system, coughs and be used as a general tonic.
Possible Uses: Appetite (loss of), colic, fatigue, halitosis, stress. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 63-67.]
Constituents: Terpinyl acetate, cineol, limonene, sabiene, linalool, linalyl acetate, pinene, zingiberene. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 138.]
Contents of this batch:
1,8-cineole 38%, eucalyptol, limonene, terpinyl acetate 42%, myrcene, linalyl acetate, linalool
Safety Information: Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand does not indicate any special precautions when using this oil. [Robert Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety (United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone, 1995), 204.]
Cautions: Non-toxic, non-irritant and non-sensitizing. Avoid use during pregnancy.
Photo thanks to Wikimedia Commons and photographer Didier Descouens.