Cardamom: Chemistry, Medicinal Properties, Applications in Dairy and Food Industry: A Review

Cardamom is popularly known as ‘Queen of Spices’ due to its pleasant aroma and taste. It is widely used in India since ancient times. Cardamom contains steam-volatile oil, fixed oil, pigments, proteins, cellulose, pentosans, sugars, starch, silica, calcium oxalate and minerals. The aroma and flavor of cardamom are obtained from the essential oils which are composed of mainly α-terpinyl acetate and 1,8-cineole. Cardamom has excellent medicinal properties such as antiseptic, carminative, digestive, diuretic, stimulant, stomachic, tonic and antispasmodic, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. Mainly three forms of cardamom viz. whole, decorticated seeds, and fully ground into powder are used as flavoring agent in dairy and food industry. Cardamom is used in preparation of sweets, milk and milk products (like khoa, gulabjamun, sandesh, basundi, etc.), bakery products, cakes, bread, flavored pickles, rice and meat preparations, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, frozen desserts, candies, puddings, condiments, relishes, gravies, etc. Keywords: Cardamom, essential oils, flavoring agent, medicinal properties Cite this Article Kishorbhai D. Jadav, Bhavbhuti M. Mehta. Cardamom: Chemistry, Medicinal Properties, Applications in Dairy and Food Industry: A Review. Research & Reviews: Journal of Dairy Science and Technology, 2018; 7(3): 9–19p.