Emperor Akbar - Cardamom Suppliers in Mumbai, India

 

Did you know that the best Cardamom in the world comes from India? That’s specifically Alleppey Green Cardamom – and there are only two entities in the entire world who possess the coveted GI tag over it. One is the regulatory Spices Board of India; the other – Emperor Akbar Cardamom… renowned cardamom supplier based in Mumbai, India.

It means that no-one else in the entire wide world can claim to produce, promote or market Alleppey Green Cardamom. And the reason for this can be traced back to history.

Historically, Green Cardamom has been strongly linked to Alleppey in Kerala. Not because it is grown there, but because royal decree intended Alleppey to become Green Cardamom’s gateway to the world.

The story goes that when the Raja of Travancore realised the global demand for what grew extensively across his kingdom, he decreed that all produce be mandatorily sold only to his official, who would forward it to the main depot in Alleppey, which was then the most important port in Travancore.

The best quality was then carefully separated by specially appointed and skilled labourers, and earmarked for export. This process was so skilled and localised that it became impossible to replicate it anywhere else.

And so was born the legend of Alleppey Green Cardamom. By fate and by design, the Raja had created a unique Green Gold! Or Golden Green at it was called.

Like ants to honey, merchants from around the world sailed to Alleppey in search of this golden green. And they still do today, albeit via more convenient and regulatory trade channels.

The monopoly of Green Cardamom remained with India until around World War I. That was when the spice was smuggled away to Guatemala. The tiny Central American country gradually increased production, so that around the turn of the millennium, it even surpassed India as the world’s largest producer.

You may replicate an idea, but you just can’t replace it. Because several crucial factors go into producing the best green cardamom in the world. Geographical and topographical factors for one; but just as importantly are the divinely skilled hands, eyes and noses trained to identify only the very best pods… and a packing process that ensures the famed aroma and flavour remain locked in for a long, long time.

This process is an Emperor Akbar secret, and it ensures that the original aroma stays even after the pack is opened in the end user’s kitchen.

As a result there’s a significant difference in Emperor Akbar’s original Alleppey Green Cardamom and what Guatemala produces. And especially bulk users are realising that despite costing more weight for weight, Emperor Akbar’s produce works out more economic in the long run because one requires fewer pods to produce the same culinary result.

Emperor Akbar, operating out of Mumbai, India, is a renowned exporter of Cardamom, supplying to countries where demand for cardamom is high, like the Middle East. This Queen of Spices enjoys patronage even in Scandinavia and the Far East, but its biggest demand hotspot is the Middle East, where it is not only used liberally in cooking, but also on a daily basis as a masticatory and mouth freshener.

In the end, try as you may, you simply cannot recreate the original. Emperor Akbar Cardamom is undisputedly the best in the world. And they have a GI tag to certify the same.