The Art of Buying the Right Cardamom

 

If you read the first part of this blog (If you haven’t, here’s the link), you now know how to identify the best cardamom in the marketplace. Then again, you’d also know that the surest, yet easiest, way to achieve this is to simply purchase Emperor Akbar Cardamom. In Part-1 of the blog, you discovered that Emperor Akbar is, in fact, officially the world’s best cardamom. One of just two entities in the entire world to be certified by the coveted GI Tag for Alleppey Green Cardamom. Which means, no one else can even so much as claim to produce, promote or market Alleppey Green Cardamom.

But that’s not the only factor that makes it the world’s best. Or to put it another way, the GI Tag was conferred on it precisely because the brand follows extremely stringent standards along the entire time-line – from production to selection to packaging to transportation. So that what reaches your kitchen table anywhere in the world is still locked in with that unmistakeable aroma and flavour that characterises plantation-fresh elachi.

Indeed, Emperor Akbar Cardamom’s world-beating quality goes beyond the GI Tag – or, in a sense, the GI Tag is because of the standard operating procedures the brand stringently follows down to every pack… in fact, everypod!

A Confluence of Factors

To begin with, the Alleppey Green Cardamom that Emperor Akbar procures is a result of specific climate, soil and water native only to Kerala, where it is grown. Then, the harvesting and sorting is done by native experts whose skill has been passed down generations – dating back to the Raja of Travancore whose legacy of cardamom quality has been inherited by Emperor Akbar (That fabled story for another time!)

The pods are specifically measured by diameter and sorted accordingly. Emperor Akbar colour-codes its packs to indicate the same – the largest pods go into purple aroma-lock packs, the next largest into pink, then green, orange and finally red. However, it does not mean that the lower grades are poor in quality or freshness. Emperor Akbar assures you that every pod in every pack was harvested fresh and that freshness has been sealed in by innovative packaging and transportation. From a different perspective, specific cooking applications also require specific grades (sizes) of pods.

Sealing in the Potency

Getting back to the packaging innovation, it is first seen in the unique aroma-lock packs. These are designed to ensure that not just while in transit, but even after you start using the contents, the unused portion remains fresh – so long as you securely close the locking mechanism after every use. In effect, you shouldn’t even transfer Emperor Akbar cardamom into another container. Thanks to the aroma-lock, it remains freshest in the original pack itself!

And then there’s the matter of transportation from the cardamom wholesaler. This is where a lot of other packaged cardamom can lose theiroil content. Not Emperor Akbar’s! That’s because even after aroma-locking each individual pack, they are themselves packed into cartons that have been specifically designed to even survive reasonable immersion in water.

In short, that pack of Emperor Akbar cardamom reaches your kitchen table at almost the same freshness level as when it was packed, which makes the brand better than any other elaichi exporter. The best green cardamom in the world!

Cheaper is Never Better

So don’t get fooled by cheaper elaichi wholesalers and varieties available in the open market or online. Quality comes at a price; but then, even the cheaper, inferior varieties will prove to be costlier in the long run. Be reminded again that once cardamom loses its aroma and flavour, it becomes useless. Thus, as many chefs, restaurants and food specialists around the world have discovered, where you may need three pods of cheaper but inferior cardamom from any elaichi wholesaler to achieve a certain intensity of flavour, you will need just one pod of Emperor Akbar cardamom to attain the same result. Which only means that Emperor Akbar Cardamom is more economical and friendly on the pocket.

And extremely popular too. Emperor Akbar Cardamom is heavily exported to the Middle East, Far East, Europe and beyond.

There, now you know how to identify good quality cardamom. Though, you won’t even need that knowledge any more, because there’s a far simpler way. Simply go online at shop.emperor.com and place your order. Quality is assured because Emperor Akbar ensures it. All nicely graded by pack colour for your convenience. Available in a range of packs too, starting from 100 gms.

Just one last thing left to reassure yourself that none of this was mere advertising or promotion. When your pack arrives, open it, cup a handful of pods to your nose, close your eyes and blissfully take in the intense aroma of the best Alleppey Green Cardamom in the entire world! Aaaaaaah, heavenly!