Narrator: Green cardamom is one of the
most expensive spices in the world.
Just 1 kilogram of it can sell for $90.
But getting that little bit of green cardamom
requires a lot of work.
Harvesters need to collect 6 kilograms
of these small raw pods by hand
to produce just 1 kilogram of the spice.
So, why is it so hard to grow green cardamom?
And is that what makes it so expensive?
Known as the "queen of spices,"
cardamom comes from small oval-shaped fruits called pods,
which contain several black seeds inside.
Those seeds are what give green cardamom
its uniquely citrusy, sweet flavor and aroma.
The green cardamom plant
grows in select regions around the world,
but it especially thrives in India's Idukki district,
where Raja's family has grown the spice for 30 years.
After cardamom is planted,
farmers must wait three years for the plants to mature.
When that waiting period is finally over,
workers have most of the year,
from July to next February, to harvest.
While that's a long harvesting period,
not all of the pods can be harvested at the same time.
And knowing precisely when to harvest
is a job for highly skilled workers.
Narrator: To do the job right,
harvesters train for six months
alongside experienced farmers.
This is when they learn to decipher
a ripe fruit that can be picked
versus a raw pod that is not yet ready to harvest.
Narrator: In the end, the plant doesn't yield much.
Farmers harvest a maximum of 10 pods, on average,
from each plant.
That number of pods produces
only about 1.5 teaspoons of ground cardamom.
But harvesting is just the beginning.
Only after the pods are dried
will they look like the green cardamom sold in stores.
You can buy cardamom pods,
just the black seeds,
or ground cardamom, which are the seeds in powdered form.
All of the pods head to a separate location
to dry for about 18 hours
within a day or so after harvesting.
Any delay will cause the pods
to decay and lose flavor.
Drying also preserves the spice's green color —
a factor that directly impacts how valuable a pod will be
and what it will be used for.
Narrator: From here, the pods are cleaned and sorted.
Workers use their hands to push and separate
the smaller, lower-quality pods through the holes.
Each pod is then graded
based on its size, weight, and color.
Highly valued pods are bigger, greener, and full of seeds.
Out of all the cardamom Raja harvests,
the majority won't be worth very much.
In fact, only a sixth will qualify
as good-quality, marketable cardamom.
Narrator: Some exported whole green cardamom pods
from other producers can be even costlier,
retailing for over four times the price,
at $90 per kilogram.
The company's lowest grade costs 900 Indian rupees,
or about $12, per kilogram
and can be sold as ground cardamom.
Pods with any sign of discoloration or rot
aren't marketable and will therefore be rejected.
Narrator: But this whole process
could be totally disrupted by changes in weather.
If there's too much rain, the pods will rot.
If there's not enough, they'll burn out from the sun.
More recently, the world's climate crisis
and unpredictable weather
in India's Idukki district specifically
have hurt supplies of green cardamom.
The district makes up at least a sixth of global production
and roughly three-quarters
of India's green cardamom production.
But its supply took a hit in recent years,
as harsh weather and rains ruined farmers' crops.
This drove up the prices of cardamom in 2019
but didn't necessarily benefit small farmers.
In order to make a huge profit,
farmers need a large inventory.
And when cardamom is sold in small amounts by small farmers,
most of the payment is used
to cover the cost of production only.
Raja spends about 15,000 Indian rupees,
or about $200, per acre just on fertilizer.
That's between 10% and 15%
of the total profits he'll make off that acre.
And those profits often don't cover the total
Raja must spend on production.
Narrator: All this considered, the global cardamom market
is expected to grow by about $169 million
between 2021 and 2025.
This is good for the industry
but could present a challenge
for farmers unable to meet demand
as the climate crisis continues to threaten
the supply of this coveted spice.