Cardamomi Semen. U. S.
(Br.)
Monograph
of the USD 21st 1926.
Edited by Ivor Hughes
CARDAMOM SEED Cardam. Sem.
Cardamom seed is the dried ripe seed of Elettaria Cardamomum White et
Maton (Fam. Zingiberacea) Cardamom
seed yields not more than 5 per cent. of acid-insoluble ash. U.S. Cardamom
Seeds are the dried ripe seeds of Elettaria Cardamomum, Maton. The seeds
should be kept in their pericarps and separated when required for use.
Br.
Cardamom
Semina, Br.
Cardamomum Minus, Cardamomum Malabaricum; Malabar Cardamoms, Cardamoms;
Cardamome du Malabar, Petit Cardamome, Fr.; Fructus Cardamomi, P. G.;
Malabar Kardamomen, Kardamomen, Kleine Kardamomen, G.; Cardamomo
minore, It, Cardamomo, Cardamomo menor, Sp.
The fruit of cardamom
is official in most of the
Pharmacopoeias. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia in its definition confines cardamom
to the seeds. In this it follows the British Pharmacopoeia which has
always limited the drug to the seeds, but specifically states that the
fruit should be kept intact and the seeds separated when required for use.
This step was probably a wise one as there has always been some
confusion by manufacturers as to whether the article designated as cardamom
in a formula was restricted to the seeds or not. On the other hand the
pericarp contains volatile oil. and forms an excellent surface for the
grinding of the seeds. Furthermore, the decorticated seeds are liable
to adulteration with seed of wild cardamom and other foreign seeds
which are not detected except upon careful examination.
The term cardamom has
been applied to the aromatic capsules of various plants, most of them
from India, belonging to the family of Zingiberacea:. Formerly the
terms lesser, middle and larger cardamoms were used to separate these
various fruits, but these words have been used so differently by various
writers that they no longer possess any precise signification.
The lesser cardamom of most writers is the variety recognized
by the Pharmacopeias and generally kept in the shops. The other
varieties, though circulating to some extent in European and Indian
commerce, are little known in this country.
The official cardamoms
are produced chiefly in Malabar, Mysore, and adjacent regions of India
and Ceylon. They have also been cultivated in some extent in tropical
America.
The cardamom plant is a perennial herb with a tuberous
horizontal rhizome, sending up from eight to twenty erect, simple, smooth,
green and shining, perennial stems, which rise from six to twelve feet
in height, and bear alternate elliptical-lanceolate sheathing leaves.
The flower-stalk proceeds from the base of the stem, and lies upon the
ground, with the flowers arranged in a panicle. The fruit is an ovoid,
three-celled, loculicidally dehiscent capsule, containing many seeds
which are covered by an aril; during drying it is said to lose
three-fourth of its weight. This valuable plant is a native of the
mountains of Indo-China, where it springs, up spontaneously in the
forests after the removal of the undergrowth, and is very extensively
cultivated by the natives.
For a detailed account of culture, see P. J., 1888;, Bull. des Bc. Pharmacol., 1906, pp. 114
and 584 and Ph. Era, 1920, liii, 365. The plant begins to yield fruit
at the end of the fourth year, and continues to bear for several years
afterwards.
The capsules just before complete maturity are picked
from the fruit-stems, dried over a gentle fire or by sun-heat, and
separated, by rubbing with the hands from the foot stalks and adhering
calyces. They are then washed and bleached by exposure either to dew
and sun or to vapors of burning sulphur. J. W. Mollison describes the
method of washing and curing cardamoms employed in the Bombay Presidency,
India.
The washing and
manipulation is performed
by women, and water from special wells is employed. The cardamoms are first.
washed in earthenware vessels containing a mixture of the well water
with pounded soap nut and a species of acacia in the proportion of two
pounds of the former to a quarter pound of the latter. About ten
pounds of cardamoms are treated at one time.
Two women stir them vigorously in the mixture for about one minute and then
allow them to rest about an equal length of time, and again stir for
another minute. A thick lather results. This completes the first washing,
after which the cardamoms are baled out by hand into a basket where they are
allowed to drain for a few seconds, and then subjected to a second washing
similar to the first except that the mixture contains less of the soap nut
preparation and an additional quantity of soap solution.
They are then thrown upon a mat and sprinkled with water from the special
well at intervals of a half hour until the next morning, when they are
spread upon the roof of a house and allowed to dry for four or five
hours. After nipping off the short stalk, an operation performed with a
large pair of shears, the cardamoms are sorted, only the most plump
fruits being prepared for the foreign market. Besides bleaching by
this process cardamoms are also subjected to starching in India. The
starched product has a whiter appearance than the bleached cardamoms.
(B.C. D. 1904, see also Ph. Era, 1904, 137.)
The fruits, thus prepared, are ovate-oblong, from 10
to 17 mm. long, from 6 to 8 mm. thick, three-sided with rounded
angles, obtusely pointed at both ends, longitudinally wrinkled, and of a
yellowish-white color. The seeds constitute about 74 parts per cent.
by weight.
According to Pereira, three varieties are distinguished in commerce: 1, the shorts, from 6 to 12 mm.long, from 4 to 6 mm.
broad, browner and more coarsely ribbed and more highly esteemed than the
others; 2, the longlongs, from 14 to 25 mm. in length by 4 to
6 mm. in breadth, elongated, and somewhat acuminate; and 3, the
short-longs, which are somewhat shorter and less
pointed that the second variety. The odor of cardamom is fragrant, the
taste warm, slightly pungent, and highly aromatic.
Most of the drug goes through Bombay and Madras to the various parts of the
world. That imported into the United States is either shipped direct
from Colombo, Ceylon, and Bombay, India, or through London. Malabar cardamom
comes from Colombo; Mysore cardamom from Bombay.
UNOFFICIAL VARIETIES.-Besides
the official cardamoms the fruit of a large number of related plants has
been more or less employed. The more important of these are noted below.
Ceylon Cardamom.-This has been denominated variously cardamomum majus and
cardamomum longum, and is sometimes termed in English commerce
wild cardamom.
It is the large cardamom of Guibourt. In the East it is sometimes
called grains of Paradise but it is not the product known with us
by that name. (See below.) It is derived from a plant cultivated in
Candy, in the Island of Ceylon, and also growing wild in the forests
of the interior, which was designated by Sir James Edward Smith
Elettaria major, but is now generally acknowledged
to be only a variety of the official plant.(Elettaria Cardamomum var Major Smith.) The fruit is a lanceolate-oblong, acutely
triangular capsule, somewhat curved, about 3.5 cm. long and 6 to8 mm. broad,
with flat and ribbed sides, tough and coriaceous, brownish or yellow
ash-colored, having frequently at one end the long, cylindrical,
three- lobed calyx, and at the other the fruit-stalk. It is three
locular, and contains angular, rugged, yellowish-red seeds, of a peculiar
fragrant odor and spicy taste. Its effects are analogous to those of
the official cardamom.
Round or Siam Cardamom.-This
is probably the
Amomi uva of Pliny and is
believed to be the fruit of Amomum cardomomum Willd., growing in Sumatra, Java, and other East India islands.
The capsules are usually smaller than a cherry, roundish or somewhat
ovater with three convex sides, more or less striated longitudinally,
yellowish or brownish-white, and sometimes reddish, with brown,
angular, cuneiform, shrivelled seeds, which have a spicy camphoraceous
flavor. They are sometimes, though rarely, met with connected in their
native clusters, constituting the amomum racemosum, or amome
en grappe, of the French.
They are similar in medicinal properties to the official, but are
seldom used except in the southern parts of Europe.
Java Cardamom.-The plant
producing this variety is supposed to be the
Amomum maximum Roxburgh, growing in Java and other Malay
islands in the East. The capsules are oval, or oval-oblong, often
somewhat ovate, from 1.5 to 3 cm. long, arid from 8 to 15 mm. broad,
usually flattened on one side and convex on the other, sometimes
curved, three valved and occasionally imperfectly three-lobed, of a
dirty grayish-brown color, and coarse fibrous appearance. When soaked
in water, they exhibit as their distinguishing character from nine to
thirteen ragged membranous wings along their whole length. The seeds have a
feebly aromatic taste and odor. This variety of cardamom affords but a very
small proportion of volatile oil, and is altogether of inferior
quality.
Madagascar Cardamom.-This is the
Cardamomum majus of Geiger and some others, and is thought to
be the fruit of Amomum
angustifolium, of Sonnerat, growing in marshy grounds in Madagascar. The capsule is
ovate, pointed, flattened on one side, striated, with a broad circular
scar at the bottom, surrounded by an elevated, notched, corrugated
margin. The seeds have an aromatic flavor similar to that of official
cardamom.
Bengal Cardamom.-The
fruit of .Amomum aromaticum Roxb., sometimes known by the name of
winged Bengal cardamom. Morung elachi, or Buro elachi, is about 2.5
cm. in length, obscurely three-sided, ovoid or somewhat obconic, with nine
narrow, jagged ridges or wings (best seen after soaking in water) upon its
distal end, which terminates in a truncate bristly nipple. The taste
is somewhat camphoraceous.
Nepal Cardamom is produced by an Amomum of undetermined
species probably A.
subulatum Roxb. and
resembles the Bengal cardamom, except in having a long tubular calyx on its
summit, and in being usually attached to a stalk.
Grains of Paradise. Grana
Paradisi.-Under this name and that of
Guinea grains, and Melegueta or Mallaguetta pepper are found in commerce small seeds of a
round or ovate form, often angular, and somewhat cuneiform, minutely rough,
brown externally, white within, of a feebly aromatic odor when rubbed
between the fingers, and of a strongly hot and peppery taste. Two
kinds of them are known in the English market, one larger, plumper,
and more warty, with a short conical projecting tuft of pale fibers on
the umbilicus; the other smaller and smoother and without the fibrous tuft.
The latter are the more common. It is probable that these are produced by.
Amomum Melegueta Roscoe, although they have been ascribed also to
the A. Grana
Paradisi J. E. Smith.
Their effects on the system are analogous to those of pepper ; but they are
seldom used except in veterinary practice, and to give pungency to spirits,
wine, beer, and vinegar. J. C. Thresh made a proximate analysis of the
seeds, and found volatile oil, resin, tannin, starch, albuminoids, and
an active principle in the form of a straw colored viscid, odorless
fluid, pungent, but not so hot as capsaicin. (P.J.) 1884, p. 297.)
Fred'k Schwartz found in the seeds a reddish-brown acrid resin, and an
oil having a burning aromatic taste, upon which the virtues probably depend.
(.A. J. P.) 1886, 118; consult also Hanausek's researches in Chem. Ztg.,
1893, 1765.)
Bastard or Wild Cardamom, the seeds of
Amomum Xanthioide,s Wall., resembles true eardamom in
appearance, but of a dirty green color, and has a very biting,
camphor-like taste. They come from Siam.
Description and Physical
properties. Unground
Cardamom Seed. Mostly agglutinated into groups of 2 to 7 by the
adhering membranous aril, the individual seeds oblong-ovoid or irregularly
3- to 4-sided, from 3 to 4 mm. in length; convex on the dorsal surface,
strongly longitudinally grooved on the ventral side and coarsely
tuberculated; externally reddish-gray brown ; odor aromatic; taste
aromatic and pungent.
Structure.-Seed coat: an epidermal layer of
thick-walled cells, a pigment layer of small cells with brownish
contents, a layer of volatile oil cells with suberized walls and a single
layer of radially elongated strongly lignified stone cells with inner walls
heavily thickened. Perispenn large, white, surrounding a central, greenish
endosperm enclosing a small straight embryo.
Powdered
cardamom Seed.-Brown; endosperm and
perisperm cells filled with starch grains from 0.001 to 0.004 mm. in
diameter or containing one or more prisms of calcium oxalate from
0.010 to 0.025 mm. in diameter; fragments of seed coat with dark brown
cellsments of seed coat with dark brown cells polygonal in surface view and
about 0.020 mm. in diameter; fragments of spiral tracheae with accompanying
slightly-lignified bast-fibers relatively few. U. S.
Fruits from one to two centimetres long,
ovoid or oblong, bluntly triangular in section, shortly beaked at the apex,
pale buff in color, plump and nearly smooth or ,vith slight longitudinal
striations. Seeds dark reddish-brown, about three millimetres in length and
the same in breadth and thickness, irregularly angular, transversely
wrinkled, and enclosed in a thin, colorless, membranous aril. The powdered
Seeds exhibit abundant, minute, angular starch grains, often compacted
into masses; but no spiral vessels, sclerenchymatous fibres, or
strongly elongated sclerenchymatous cells (absence of pericarps). Aromatic
odor; taste agreeably warm and aromatic. Ash not more than 6 per cent." Br.
The seeds contain 4.6 per
cent. of volatile oil, 10.4 of fixed oil, 2.5 of a salt of
potassium mixed with a coloring principle, 3.0 of starch, 1.8 of nitrogenous
mucilage, 0.4 of yellow coloring matter, and 77.3 of ligneous fiber. (Trommsdorff.)
The volatile oil is colorless, of an agreeable and very penetrating
odor, and of a strong aromatic, burning, camphorous, and bitterish
taste. It is dextrogyrate, and consists essentially of a terpene, C10H16, with small quantities of formic
and acetic acids. From old specimens of oil Dumas and Peligot claim to
have separated crystals of terpene hydrate, C10H20O2
+ H2O, while Fluckiger has obtained a
crystalline deposit from Ceylon oil which he considers identical with
common camphor.
Weber (.Ann. Ch. Ph., ccxxxviii, 98) found a small amount of a
crystalline, non-volatile compound which fuses at 60 to 61 C.
Schimmel & Co.
published in their semi-annual
reports for April and October, 1897, some results of investigation of
several varieties of cardamom oil. The terpenes of
Ceylon oil they state to be terpinene and dipentene;
both Ceylon and Bengal cardamom contain cineol.
Malabar cardamom yields terpineol as well as cineol, while Siam cardamom yields a crystalline sediment composed of
borneol and camphor in approximately equal proportions.
The sp.gr. of the oil is between 0.92 and 0.94.
It cannot be kept long without undergoing change, and finally, even though
excluded from the air, loses its peculiar odor and taste. If ether be made
to percolate through the powdered seeds, and the liquor obtained be
deprived of the ether, a light greenish-brown fluid remains,
consisting almost exclusively: of the. volatile and fixed oils. It has
the odor of cardamom, and. keeps better than the oil obtained by
distillation. ( A.J.P.xxi, 116.)
The oil of cardamom of commerce is often factitious, being
composed of several cheap volatile oils, oils of cajuput, nutmeg, and
others being used. Schimmel & Co. announced in 1901 that they no longer
distilled the oil from the fruit of Elettaria cardamomum, but from the
seeds of another species; this oil makes a clear solution with three
parts by volume of 70 per cent. alcohol, (Schim. Rep. 1901, 14.) See Oleum
Cardomomi. The seeds should be powdered only when wanted for use, as they
retain their aromatic properties best while in the capsule.
Cardamoms are sometimes adulterated; G. W. Kennedy
reported nearly 4 per cent. of orange seeds and un-roasted grains of coffee
admixed with cardamom. Solstein {1892) found three commercial samples of
powdered cardamom containing sodium carbonate.
Uses.; Cardamom is a grateful aromatic, not
strongly heating or stimulating, and useful chiefly as an adjuvant.
Throughout the East Indies it is largely consumed as a condiment.
It was known to the ancients; and derived its name from the Greek
language. In this country it is employed chiefly as an ingredient in
compound preparations,
Dose, fifteen to thirty grains (1 - 2 Gm.)
Off. Prep.-Pulvis Aromaticus,
N.F. (Br.) Pulvis Cretre Aromaticus, Br.,
N.F.Tinctura Cardamomi, U.S. Tinctura Cardamomi Composita, U.S., Br.j
Tinctura Aromatica, N.F.
See also the Volatile or Essential oils
Did you find what you were seeking? If not please use the site search box at the top right hand of the page, or else return to the main library.
