Tsaoko

Amomum tsao-ko

1,8-cineole and a camphorous note · the dried fruit that goes into mala broth

Tsaoko is the dried fruit of a ginger-family plant, called caoguo in Chinese. It is the pod that goes whole into mala broth, hotpot, red-braised pork and pho stock, a few at a time. The dried fruit is an oval about the size of a thumb, ribbed lengthwise, deep brown, with a shell hard enough that the seed mass rattles inside when shaken. The aroma is sharp and camphorous, and essential-oil components including 1,8-cineole have been reported in it. In use it is cracked with the back of a knife or a pestle so the aroma can escape, then lifted out before serving. The Donguibogam lists it in the Herb section as 草果, recording a warm nature, a pungent taste and no toxicity. Quoting the Uihak Ipmun, it gives the preparation: strip the outer and inner shells, take the seed, wrap it in a flour paste and bake it buried in embers. It grows in the mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou, so nothing is cultivated in Korea and it arrives as dried fruit.

Where It Grows

Main producer Major producer Latitudes at 15–22℃ Zoom and pan to explore · temperatures are rough zonal averages

Main producer The mountains of southern Yunnan that border Vietnam — Jinping, Luchun, Malipo and others — produce most of the world's supply. Harvest September, October, November
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Major producer It is grown in the high mountain country along the Chinese border in the north, in places such as Lao Cai and Ha Giang.
Major producer Harvested in the northern mountains, with most of it passed on to China.

It is native to the border mountains running from southern Yunnan in China into northern Vietnam, so it cannot be pinned to any one country. Cultivation and gathering are concentrated in this narrow mountain belt, so the list of producing areas ends at three, and because it is not tracked as a separate item in international statistics, output cannot be ranked by country. It is not grown in South Korea; it arrives as dried whole fruit.

Optimum: 15~22℃
Range: 5~30℃
Hardiness: Not hardy
Day length: Not applicable

A perennial herb that grows in the shade of evergreen forest on subtropical mountain slopes at 1,000–2,000 m above sea level, in valleys where rain is frequent and fog hangs for long stretches. In spots that catch direct sun, or where dry wind reaches them for long periods, the fruit does not set, and the plant is weak against frost. What sets the flowering time is not day length but the spring temperature and rainfall of the mountains.

How to grow

Light: A plant of the shaded forest floor in the mountains of southern China. It is not a crop grown in open sun
Soil and depth: It grows in the rich, soft soil of mountain forest that holds its moisture. The conditions are not those of open ground in Korea
Spacing: In Korea it is bought rather than grown. In its home range it is planted widely under tree shade
Watering: It lives on the moisture of a mountain climate with frequent rain and mist. Long exposure to dry wind and the fruit does not set
Feeding: In its home range it draws on leaf mould built up under the trees. There is nothing to do here
Harvest: Nothing is harvested here. In its home range the fruit is picked once it reddens and then dried; it reaches the market as whole pods dried to a deep brown

What makes the difference. Choose pods that are deep brown with clear lengthwise ribs and a seed mass that rattles when shaken. If pressing a thumbnail into the shell releases no aroma, it is old. Buy whole, keep them sealed, and crack each pod as it is needed

Why this one is harder. A crop of southern Chinese mountains, it is not grown in Korea at all. Plan on buying it, and treat storing it well as the whole of the cultivation for this entry

Common problems

Mould You will see White powder on the shells and a musty smell What to do Discard the whole packet. Keep the rest in a sealed container somewhere cool and dry
Storage insects You will see Small insects and fine dust inside the packet, holes bored in the shells What to do Move it to a sealed container and freeze anything being kept long. Do not use what insects have been through

This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.

Health Benefits

The old record — chogwa (草果). The Donguibogam lists it in the Herb section as 草果. It records a warm nature, a pungent taste and no toxicity. It gives the preparation: strip the outer and inner shells, take the seed, wrap it in a flour paste and bake it buried in embers. It is a short entry quoting the Uihak Ipmun. What an old medical text wrote differs from how it is judged today.

Essential oil and aroma. Analyses report that tsaoko's aroma arises from essential-oil components including 1,8-cineole. The same work reports the oil to be concentrated in the seed rather than the shell. This is an analysis of aroma.

Why the shell was stripped. That the old preparation called for stripping both shells and taking only the seed squares with the modern finding that the aroma-bearing part is the seed. This is a record of a preparation method.

Nutrition

1,8-cineole (a leading component of the essential oil) — the volatile compound behind the sharp, cooling aroma
Essential oil (concentrated in the seed mass) — the volatile fraction that carries most of the aroma
Polyphenols (reported in the dried shell) — the compound class behind the deep brown colour and astringency
Fibre (a shell as hard as wood) — coarse fibre that cannot be chewed down

The aroma sits in the seed Tsaoko's aroma is concentrated in the seed mass inside the hard shell. Dropped in whole it gives up very little, so crack the shell with the back of a knife or a pestle before it goes in the pot. A pod that releases a rush of aroma the moment it cracks is a fresh one.

1,8-cineole and the camphorous note Analyses report 1,8-cineole among the components of tsaoko's essential oil. The cool, sharp, camphorous note comes from there. Being volatile, it escapes with a long boil or an uncovered pot. This entry stays with the compositional record.

An ingredient used in small amounts One or two pods flavour a whole pot. Spices are used sparingly by nature, so reading a per-100g composition figure straight across gives a badly wrong picture of what is actually eaten. That is the first thing to check when reading numbers for any spice.

Why it keeps so well dried The hard shell traps the essential oil, which is why whole pods keep for a long time. Ground in advance, the aroma goes quickly instead. Buying whole and cracking each pod as it is needed beats buying it as powder.

Pairings

○ Star anise, cassia and sichuan pepper — mala broth — The aroma of a mala broth is built in layers by tsaoko, star anise, cassia and sichuan pepper. Tsaoko takes the cool, sharp layer. Frying the spices in oil before the water goes in draws out the most aroma. Cinnamon · Sancho (Shiny-leaf Prickly Ash)

○ Boiling beef or mutton — One or two pods in the pot cover the smell of boiling a whole cut. Add them once the water is up and lift them out with the meat. The aroma fades with long boiling, so there is no reason to start them cold.

○ A spice bag — When several spices go in together, a muslin bag makes them easy to retrieve. Nothing strays into the ladle, and the bag can be lifted out and used a second time.

△ Do not chew the pods — Tsaoko has a woody shell and a very strong aroma. Lift the pods out once they have flavoured the broth and make sure none reach the serving bowls. For a broth children will eat, bag the spices so they come out in one piece.

△ Do not swap cao doukou or bai doukou for it — The ginger family holds several fruits alike in name and appearance. Tsaoko, cao doukou and bai doukou pull the aroma in different directions, and substituting one for another turns the broth into a different dish. Check the name and the botanical name on the packet, and smell before buying. Katsumada's Cardamom

△ Mould and damp — Dried spices take up damp and grow mould. If white powder has settled on the shells or the packet smells musty, discard the whole packet. Do not pick out the mouldy pods and use the rest. Once opened, move them to a sealed container somewhere cool and dry.

Varieties

Whole pods (processed) — Sold as whole dried fruit. The shell holds the aroma in, so it keeps the longest
Tsaoko seed (草果仁) (part) — The seed alone, with the outer and inner shells stripped away. This is the part the old preparation refers to
Cao doukou and bai doukou (distinction) — Other ginger-family fruits alike in name and appearance. Swapping them for tsaoko changes the aroma

Source: Donguibogam (Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine), Herbs section (Chobu), entry Chogwa (Tsaoko)