Cardamom as Fragrance

Cardamom is a well balanced middle note in aromatic, woody and cologne accords and can be used as a top note in spicy accords. A smokey and cool spice, not unlik ginger but certainly with more of a peppery, basil zing.


Used to add a firm and balancing warm spice or an herbacious burst to fragrances. Definitely green in character, but peppery as well. Used in designer fragrances such as Azzaro for Men, Dolce & Gabbana The One for Men and Aromatonic for women. Pairs well with citrus notes, artemisia, and woods.


This magic spice is an ingredient in some Dark Age versions of kyphi, the ancient Egyptian incense that became a medicine, and is often given as a substitute for cinnamon, which is a good match in terms of its strength of warmth, pliny mentions it as an ingredient in the Egyptian perfume called Metopium, and the Romans incorporated into perfumes as well, often combining it with saffron and myrrhm Cardamom is still often found in perfumes, especially "masculine" ones, and it is especially  nice combined with orange, cinammon, cloves, and caraway. 


You can find cardamom in fragrances all the time. It’s in Ormonde Jayne’s “Man” and “Woman,” two of the most gorgeous fragrances out there. Jean-Claude Ellena used it in his India-themed Un Jardin Apres La Mousson of course, but it’s also in his Eau Parfumee au The Vert. It’s in L’Artisan’s Timbuktu and Chanel’s Pour Monsieur, Donna Karan’s Chaos and Malle’s Cologne Bigarade. Basenotes lists 331 scents that use it (and I’m sure there are more).

So what does pure cardamom smell and taste like? Primary research time:

The pod, when chewed, is papery and tough. I can see why it was once used as a toothbrush. The black seeds inside contain the flavor. I chewed some of them and...man. There’s sweetness, quickly eclipsed by bitter lemon rind-like taste. Then comes menthol and camphor, a greenish Eucalyptus, and a slight numbing of the tongue. Smelling the crushed pods and seeds reveals the camphor, and when deeply inhaled it cools the nasal passages.

I left the crushed pods out overnight. Their scent this morning had a fruitiness that wasn’t there initially. It had mellowed, become more aromatic, but without the overwhelming Vicks Vap-O-Rub-like camphor of the just-crushed seeds.

It was Eau Parfumee au The Verte that renewed my interest in fine perfumery, which had been more or less dormant for years prior to that. I had no idea what the ingredients were and no desire to find out then; I just knew I loved the perfume. Smelling it now, with a mortar full of crushed cardamom pods alongside, I think: of course. Cardamom.

Perfumery is where we rediscover the world.

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