0718-1345 TCXCinnamon Stick

Sikkim Large Cardamom

A different species from green cardamom and a different spice entirely. Sikkim contributes nearly 84% of India's large cardamom output, GI-tagged in March 2015, from a state that went fully organic in 2016.

84%

of India's large cardamom

Botanical name: Amomum subulatum
Known as: Badi Elaichiबडी इलायची
Origin: North Sikkim, Dzongu
Harvest: August – October

Dried black cardamom pods in close detail

The story

Origin27°32′ N

DzonguNorth Sikkim

Sikkim88°31′ E

Large cardamom is not big green cardamom. Amomum subulatum is a separate species with a separate use — smoky, resinous, savoury, and almost never used in the sweet applications green cardamom goes into.

Sikkim contributes nearly 84% of India's large cardamom output. The state's crop was awarded a Geographical Indication in March 2015, recognised for its aroma, flavour and quality — attributes credited to the agro-climatic conditions and to organic farming practice. North Sikkim filed for the tag in 2012, cultivating the disease-tolerant Dzongu Golsey cultivar extensively.

The smoke is not a defect. Capsules are traditionally cured over a fire in a bhatti, and that curing is what produces the character buyers pay for. A large cardamom dried in a hot-air cabinet is a technically clean product that tastes of nothing in particular.

[ Why here ]

DzonguNorth Sikkim · Sikkim

Steep Himalayan slopes under alder shade at 800–2,000 m, in a state that has been fully organic since 2016. Cool nights, heavy rain, and a curing shed with a fire in it.

Specification

GI · March 2015

Sikkim Large Cardamom, registered by the Government of India.

Measured