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Guatemalan Cardamom

Cardamomo

Agricultural region

⚠ THE WORLD’S LARGEST PRODUCER AND EXPORTER OF CARDAMOM IS GUATEMALA, AND ALMOST NONE OF IT IS EATEN THERE. The crop is not native: it was introduced to ALTA VERAPAZ in the early twentieth century, associated with the German coffee planters of the Verapaces, and it took hold in the wet shade of the Q’eqchi’ highlands around Cobán, San Pedro Carchá, Cahabón and into Izabal and the Ixcán. ⚠ THE MARKET IS THE MIDDLE EAST — Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and South Asia — where cardamom coffee and spice blends consume it, so a Q’eqchi’ smallholder crop in Guatemala is a Gulf hospitality ingredient, which is a genuine food-system connection and not a metaphor. Picked green by hand over several passes, dried, then sorted and graded. ⚠ RECORDED AS TIED TO PEOPLE AND PLACE, not merely as a commodity: cardamom income, price volatility and land pressure are documented features of Q’eqchi’ household economies.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Q’eqchi’ community documented

Languages: Q'eqchi', Spanish

What is recorded

  • Guatemala is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cardamom, and domestic consumption is minimal. The crop is not native and was introduced to Alta Verapaz in the early twentieth century in association with the German coffee planters of the Verapaces. Production is concentrated in Q’eqchi’ highland communities around Cobán, San Pedro Carchá and Cahabón and into Izabal and the Ixcán. The principal markets are Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and South Asia. Cardamom income, price volatility and land pressure are documented features of Q’eqchi’ household economies. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to German Foodways documented

    Cardamom was introduced to Alta Verapaz in the early twentieth century in association with the German coffee planters of the Verapaces.

  • related to Levantine Foodways documented

    ⚠ A REAL FOOD-SYSTEM CONNECTION: Guatemala is the largest cardamom producer on earth and almost none is eaten there — the market is the Gulf and South Asia, where cardamom coffee consumes it.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

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