Instructions: If you drive east from the lowlands of Indias southwestern coast, the road begins to weave and rise into terraced hillsides of bushy tea plants, rubber trees and the climbing pepper vines for which this region is famous. Yet none of these crops is distinguished enough to lend its name to the gentle mountains here.

To find the plant that claims this honor, you would have to pull to the side of the sun-burned road and head toward a shadier spot. Protected by a green umbrella of banana or jackfruit trees - or whatever plants afford some protection - are the frondlike leaves of the cardamom plant, which in turn hides its prize. Down at the base of those stems, under leaves fluffed out distractingly, lie the pink and white cardamom flower, the pod and its flavorful seeds. Practically buried treasure.

Unlike so many other spices, cardamom rarely calls attention to itself. For most Americans, at least those without a Scandinavian heritage, cardamom does not rate an appearance in the pantry. But diners who enjoy a variety of ethnic foods are consuming cardamom more often than they realize.

In addition to being an essential aromatic in Swedish cream cakes and Norwegian sweet buns, the spice is a player in a variety of seasoning compositions: Indian garam masala, Moroccan ras-el-hanout, Ethiopian berbere and the savory paste used in Thai Mussaman (Muslim) curry. Middle Eastern cuisine savors the natural pairing of cardamom and coffee as much as Indian culinary traditions call for cardamom in a highly spiced, milky tea called chai. (Chai has become a popular drink in the United States as well, turning up in coffee shops, commercial tea blends and ready-to-drink bottled brews.)

Intriguing flavor
What cardamom brings to the table is an intriguing mix of citrus, camphor and bergamot flavors - think of Earl Grey tea with a splash of lemon - that suits sweet and savory dishes.

"I always say cardamom is the vanilla of India," Delhi-born cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey said from her New York City home. "We use it

In a lot of desserts, but there are two other ways to use cardamom. In rice and meat dishes it is a savory, but there, the aroma it gives is really more important. I love to flavor rice with it; even if Im making plain rice I throw a few pods in the water. The third way is as a mouth freshener. Instead of a mint you would have a little box with the pods, which you would put in your mouth and crack, not chew really, and suck on."

The flavor can be quite strong, which is why it tends to be mixed with other spices, such as cinnamon or ginger.

"When you work with cardamom, you have to be careful, or it can take over the whole dish," said Marcus Samuelsson, chef of Aquavit restaurant in New York and Minneapolis, who was raised in Sweden. "It numbs the diner as well.

"My grandmother used it a lot in gingersnap cookies and Swedish bread.

But it is very versatile. I still use the green cardamom for my gingersnaps, and black cardamom is good for sauces, foie gras or duck."

King of India
In India, where the cardamom plant originated, it rivals pepper in prestige; pepper is known here as "the king of spices," while cardamom is

"the queen."

"Indians use cardamom in everything," said M. Murugan, head of the Cardamom Research Station in eastern Kerala. In the cool of his office, shades drawn against the sun and an overhead ceiling fan whipping the edges of farm reports, Murugan explained, "It goes into curry mixes, tea, biscuits, toffee. Many Indians also use cardamom in essential oil blends. But we export the oils, too, because lots of international factories use them for perfume base."

But for all its uses, other countries with similar growing environments may not have wanted to bother with cardamom. As suits a queen, the succulent plant - a member of the ginger family - makes specific demands.

To start with, her majesty needs an elevation of at least 2,000 feet above sea level; no flat, hot plains, thank you. A tropical rainforest climate with moist air and peat soil is essential to keep the shallow root system healthy. and shade, lots of shade from the jungle forest, is needed to keep the plants cool and the tender leaves from burning in direct sunlight.

Special treatment
Unlike pepper, turmeric and ginger, cardamom pods arent easily dried outdoors with the full force of the sun. To protect the color, green cardamom instead is cured in dark warming rooms built on the small farms around here, most of which are 1 to 5 acres. The pods are spread on stacked mesh pallets and then baked with heat pumped in from wood ovens.

The hand labor involved, from cultivating the plants and picking the pods, to curing them just so and later sorting them into grades, is the one element the growers can control. They can only hope nature cooperates with the rest.

The somewhat fragile nature of the crop may explain the look of quiet horror on the faces of buyers at a local cardamom auction when a visitor, having been offered a handful of premium green cardamom pods to inspect, casually drops them in the reddish dirt.

"This is very expensive compost," said one man quietly, as he bent down to retrieve and clean each pod.

The site is an auction house in Vandanmedu, a central trading area for cardamom where buyers come to bid on cardamom lots. Inside a large room open to the blinding light outdoors, two dozen men inspect a board that holds packets of cardamom from different sellers. An assistant passes around baked pastry triangles filled with curried chicken and vegetables and cups of strong, milky coffee. A bell chimes, and everyone stands, heads bowed, for a silent prayer.

Now the action really begins.

Wild action
Another bell. In the middle of a "U" formed by long tables, auctioneers quickly toss measures of cardamom into bowls set in front of each customer, everyone calling out numbers. The pods fly everywhere, landing in the bowls, on the tables and eventually the floor.

But this area is carpeted with tarp, and at the end of the auction, everything swept onto the tarp becomes the property of the auction house: their commission, to be sold privately.

The bidders have just a few minutes to evaluate the cardamom, checking for the brightest color - the most prized being a parrot green - and tossing the pods hot-potato-style between their hands to assess their weight. These professionals consider other factors, such as an absence of marks that would indicate infestation or dryness.

The green color is important, "but American people like the bleached white color," said Thomas. "For that market the cardamom is put out in the sun."

Later, women hand-sort the spice into grades, sitting on the floor of a concrete lean-to, chatting and stirring the pods in flat, woven baskets.

To an outsider, their bright saris - in greens and blues and reds - give splendor to the small room. Kohl-rimmed eyes watch for impurities in the pods and the womens gold bangles and rings move over the cardamom, giving the work an oddly glamorous aspect.

It seems fitting that the women look so regal. After all, they are handling the queen of spices.

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