Cardamom Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), the green or true cardamom, is a large perennial of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, native to the shaded, rain-soaked forests of the Western Ghats of southern India and Sri Lanka, and grown in plantations in Kerala, Guatemala, and Tanzania. Leafy shoots 2 to 4 meters tall rise from a thick rhizome, while long, trailing flowering stems creep along the ground at the base and carry small white flowers with a violet-streaked lip. The fruit is a pale green, three-sided, papery capsule 1 to 2 centimeters long holding 15 to 20 dark, sticky, intensely aromatic seeds that taste of eucalyptus, citrus, and camphor. We extract the dried seed.