Cardamom Seed

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

The nutrition table is per 100g. Nobody eats 100g of cardamom.

Stage by stage

Intake (Aromatic oils released): Crushing or grinding ruptures the seed's oil cells and releases the volatile compounds that carry the flavour.
Digestion (Negligible at culinary dose): A pinch is a fraction of a gram, so the fibre and mineral content in the table has no practical effect.
Absorption (Terpenoids absorbed in traces): Small amounts of cineole and related terpenoids are absorbed and cleared quickly by the liver.
Clearance (Partly exhaled): Some cineole is exhaled unchanged, which is why cardamom freshens breath and why the effect fades fast.

Time to effect

Minutes: Aromatic compounds reach the breath within minutes; there is no nutritional timescale at culinary doses.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Pricey — roughly £18 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Volatile oils (cineole, terpinyl acetate)
Iron (per 100g only)
Fibre (per 100g only)

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 295
Protein: 10.8g
Carbohydrate: 34.4g
of which sugars: 4.4g
Fat: 6.7g
of which saturated: 2.2g
Fibre: 28g
Sodium: 18mg

Food vs. supplement

Cardamom capsules are sold on the back of small trials using gram-level doses for blood pressure and lipids, with modest and inconsistent results. There is no reason to take it as a supplement, and every reason to keep using it as a spice.

Kitchen tip

Buy whole green pods, keep them sealed, and crush just before use. Pre-ground cardamom loses the volatile oils that are the only reason to buy the spice, typically within a few months of milling.

Common myth

"Cardamom is packed with iron and calcium." In reality: Per 100g it is. A teaspoon is about 2g, so the real contribution is roughly 0.3mg of poorly absorbed non-heme iron and a few milligrams of calcium. Spices are for flavour; the per-100g column flatters all of them.