Cardamom processing
Practical Action
Electric or gas dryer. An electric or gas-fired dryer is an improvement over the use of a wood-
fuelled fire and is the best choice for drying large quantities of cardamom, especially in places
where there is rainfall during the drying season.
It is the most expensive of all options but does
produce the highest quality product. It is
important that the drying temperature does not
exceed 50°C. A range of dryers of different
sizes are available depending upon the
individual choice and budget. Figure 2 shows a
typical tray dryer.
Humidity-controlled drying. A drying chamber
has been developed that helps to reduce colour
loss and to produce high quality pods. The
cardamom capsules are placed in the drying
chamber, which is at a temperature of 50°C.
During the first two hours of drying, the humidity
builds up within the chamber. This allows the
cardamoms to ‘cook’ and at the same time
destroys the enzymes that break down the
chlorophyll (chlorophyll gives the pods their
green colour). No light is allowed into the drying
chamber. After two hours the humid air is blown
out of the chamber and the humidity reduced.
The capsules are left in the chamber to dry until
they have a final moisture content of 10%.
Figure 3 shows a traditional drying chamber.
Figure 3: A traditional drying chamber
The use of biomass gasifiers
Electricity and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are clean and convenient fuels for drying, but are
not cheap or easily available in villages. Firewood, stubble and dry leaves are readily available in
villages, but they are smoky and can contaminate the dried product. A gasifier is a device that
has been developed by TERI (The Tata Energy Research Institute in India) for use in the drying
of cardamom. The gasifier uses briquettes that are made from firewood and other types of
biomass and turns them into a gas that burns with a clean smokeless flame. The main
advantages of using a gasifier is that it is more efficient in terms of the amount of fuel used.
Biomass that burns in an open fire loses about two thirds of its energy as smoke. This system
therefore uses less fuel and produces a higher quality dried cardamom. The gasifier for drying
cardamom, developed by TERI, can be made locally using recycled oil drums. For more
information contact TERI (www.teriin.org).
Grading
Cardamom is graded by colour and size. The deeper the green colour and the larger the capsule
size, the higher the grade. All grading is done by hand.
The Indian grading system for cardamom capsules separates them into different types:
Alleppey Green Cardamom
Coorg Green Cardamom
Bleached or Half-bleached Cardamom
Bleached White Cardamom
Mixed Cardamom
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