Editing Cardamom (section)

== History ==
[[File:Chinese_Materia_Medica_illustration,_Ming;_Cardamom_of_Yizhou_Wellcome_L0039306.jpg|thumb|Chinese drawing and description of cardamom from the {{Transliteration|zh|Bencao Pinhui Jingyao}} (1505), by imperial physician Liu Wentai]]

Cardamom has been used in flavorings and food over centuries. During the Middle Ages, cardamom dominated the trade industry. The Arab states played a significant role in the trade of Indian spices, including cardamom. It is now ranked the third most expensive spice following [[saffron]] and [[vanilla]].<ref name=britt/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cardamom, Small Cardamom, Green Cardamom |url=https://www.uwsp.edu/sbcb/tropical-conservatory/cardamom-small-cardamom-green-cardamom/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point |language=en-US}}</ref>

Cardamom production began in ancient times, and has been referred to in ancient [[Sanskrit]] texts as {{Transliteration|sa|ela}}.{{sfn|Cumo|2013|p=215}} The Babylonians and Assyrians used the spice early on, and trade in cardamom opened up along land routes and by the interlinked [[Persian Gulf]] route controlled from [[Dilmun]] as early as the third millennium BCE Early Bronze Age,<ref>Nicole Boivin ''et al.'' (2009). "Archaeological, linguistic and historical sources on ancient seafaring" in Michael D. Petraglia ''et al.''. eds. ''The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia: Paleoenvironments, Prehistory''. p. 262. {{ISBN|9048127181}}</ref> into western Asia and the Mediterranean world.

The ancient Greeks thought highly of cardamom, and the Greek physicians [[Dioscorides]] and [[Hippocrates]] wrote about its therapeutic properties, identifying it as a digestive aid. Due to demand in ancient Greece and Rome, the cardamom trade developed into a handsome luxury business; cardamom was one of the spices eligible for import tax in [[Alexandria]] in 126 CE. In medieval times, [[Venice]] became the principal importer of cardamom into the west, along with pepper, [[cloves]] and [[cinnamon]], which was traded with merchants from the [[Levant]] with salt and meat products.{{sfn|Cumo|2013|p=216}}

In China, ''Amomum'' was an important part of the economy during the [[Song Dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref name="pickersgill">{{cite book |editor1-last=Prance |editor1-first=Ghillean |editor2-last=Nesbitt |editor2-first=Mark |last1=Pickersgill |first1=Barbara |author-link=Barbara Pickersgill |date=2005 |title=The Cultural History of Plants |publisher=Routledge |page=158 |isbn=0415927463}}</ref> In 1150, the Arab geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]] noted that cardamom was being imported to [[Aden]], in [[Yemen]], from India and China.<ref name="pickersgill"/>

The Portuguese became involved in the trade in the 16th century, and the industry gained wide-scale European interest in the 19th century.{{sfn|Cumo|2013|p=216}}