Knowledge Base/Herbs/Round Cardamom
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化湿药 · Aromatic damp-resolving

Round Cardamom bái dòu kòu · 白豆蔻

Amomum kravanh (fruit; also cited as Amomum cardamomum)

Nature and flavour. Pungent, warm; Lung, Spleen and Stomach systems.

Classically grouped with the aromatics that move stagnation in the middle and warm the stomach, and with the herbs kept for nausea. Its scent is the reason cooks add it late in a braise, the same way a cardamom pod is added near the end.

性味归经。辛，温；归肺、脾、胃经。

传统上列入芳香化湿、行气宽中、温中止呕一类。其香气易于散失，故烹饪中多在将熟时才下，与炖煮将成时后下香料同理。

Classical category · no formulas, no dosages, no herb-drug combinations are given.
Safety. Low risk in the small amounts used in cooking. As a warm aromatic it belongs to the cold-damp side of the traditional scheme, and it is classically avoided where there is heat or depleted fluid, and in pregnancy. It is a different herb from the green cardamom pods sold for cooking (Elettaria), and a different one again from cao dou kou and hong dou kou: the single English word cardamom hides three separate entries in the Chinese materia medica.

烹饪小量使用一般认为风险低。作为温性芳香药，传统上归于寒湿一边，热证与阴液不足者不宜，孕妇不宜。它与西餐所用的绿豆蔻（Elettaria）并非一物，与草豆蔻、红豆蔻亦各为不同条目——英文同称 cardamom，掩盖了中药里三条各别的药。

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Other Aromatic damp-resolving herbs

5 related entries.

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