Organic Cardamom Essential Oil

Yes, 100% pure cardamom essential oil, Elettaria cardamomum, with nothing added and nothing diluted, bottled in the UK and GC/MS tested. It is steam distilled from the seeds of green cardamom, the same pods you crack into a curry or a cup of chai.

You may also see it spelled "cardamon", or called elaichi oil in India. They are all the same thing. It is not black cardamom, which is a different plant; the FAQ below explains the difference.

Sweet, warm spice with a surprising cool lift, like a freshly cracked pod. The sweetness comes from terpinyl acetate (up to 45% of the oil) and the fresh, eucalyptus-like edge from 1,8-cineole (up to 38%).

People use it to make a room feel warm and uplifting, in chai-style diffuser blends, as the spice note in homemade perfume, in soap and candles, and diluted in a warming winter massage oil. It is gentler on the nose than clove or cinnamon, so it suits people who find spice oils too strong.

With care. Cardamom contains 1,8-cineole, the same compound as eucalyptus, so do not apply it to or near the face of babies and young children, and diffuse it in a ventilated room.

For pets, diffuse only in rooms they can leave, keep sessions short, and never apply it to animals. Keep the bottle closed and out of reach of children.

Yes. Cardamom essential oil comes in 5ml, 100ml, 500ml and 1 litre. The large sizes are for soap makers, candle makers, perfumers, aromatherapists and skincare brands who use cardamom in quantity.

For wholesale cardamom oil, trade pricing or more than a litre, email support@ecodrop.co.uk with the volume you need. The safety data sheet and allergen declaration are on this page, and the GC/MS report and IFRA certificate are available on request for your product file.

Yes, diluted. Keep to 1 to 2% in a carrier oil for the body, about 6 to 12 drops in 30ml, and 0.5% at most on the face. Never use it neat.

Our safety data sheet lists it as a skin irritant that may cause an allergic reaction, so patch test on the inner arm and wait 24 hours. It is still one of the softer spice oils on skin, which is why massage therapists choose it over clove and cinnamon.

The partners that work best: sweet orange, ginger, cinnamon, clove, coffee, black pepper, bergamot, rose, sandalwood, cedarwood and vetiver.

Five cardamom blends

• Chai latte: 2 cardamom, 1 cinnamon bark, 1 ginger, 2 sweet orange.
• Coffee house: 2 cardamom, 2 coffee, 1 sweet orange.
• Spiced citrus morning: 2 cardamom, 3 bergamot, 1 black pepper.
• Warm woods: 2 cardamom, 2 cedarwood, 1 sandalwood.
• Rose and spice perfume: in 10ml jojoba, 4 drops rose, 2 cardamom, 2 sandalwood.

Cardamom lifts a blend rather than dominating it, so it can take a bigger share than clove or cinnamon.

• Green cardamom oil (Elettaria cardamomum) is this one: sweet, bright and fresh. It is the spice of chai and Scandinavian baking.
• Black cardamom (Amomum subulatum) is a different plant whose pods are dried over fire. Its oil is smoky and camphor-like, nothing like green cardamom.
• Cardamom CO2 extract is made with pressurised carbon dioxide rather than steam. It smells closer to a freshly crushed pod but costs more and keeps less well.
• Cardamom absolute is a solvent extract, rarely made. For aromatherapy and making, steam-distilled oil like ours is the standard.

Not this bottle. Our cardamom oil is packed and labelled for aromatherapy, home fragrance and making, not as a food, so please do not add it to drinks or recipes.

For cooking, use whole green pods or ground cardamom: crack 3 or 4 pods into a pot of chai and you get the full flavour. If you want chai in the air instead, 2 drops of cardamom, 1 cinnamon, 1 ginger and 2 sweet orange in a diffuser comes very close.