Growing Turmeric
This has got to be one of my best grocery-store, foraging projects to date. About a month ago, @knarly327 and I noticed that one of the turmeric roots that we had just bought was showing signs of "rooting life". It had a small nub of green showing, coming out of one of its nodes.
We did what any high-tech, gardening-geek would do.
We threw the root in our "easy-green sprouter" to see if we could get it to actually sprout.
It worked!
We planted it and now we are growing our own turmeric, inside our house.
This is what a turmeric root looks like:
This plant (turmeric) is in the same family as ginger. It is the roots that I am attempting to grow this particular plant for. Once ingested, this root offers anti-inflammatory benefits and just like fresh ginger root, I eat it, almost every day to help keep my gastrointestinal tract healthy and happy.
Today I learned that turmeric is native to Southeast Asia. It prefers growing temperatures that range between 20-30 degrees Celsius (or 70-85 degrees F) along with lots of moisture to really thrive. It's the end of summer, in the country where I live. So far, I have been able to meet this little plant's ideal growing conditions, but winter is coming. I think that it's going to be a bit of a challenge to keep this turmeric plant alive (as a house plant) but I'm going to try my best.
The trick is going to be making sure that it gets the correct amount of light and doesn't become too dry. Our outside temperature can plummet to -20 degrees Celsius or colder, in the middle of winter. This means that we rely on an internal heat source to heat our home. We generally run off of 2 systems, a wood stove and a propane furnace. We never run both at the same time but both do affect the humidity level inside the house. This can throw delicate, tropical plants a curve-ball or two as they either acclimatize or perish.
I will Try My Best To Keep This Little Plant Alive
Although something tells me that I may be re-potting it, into a larger container before the winter arrives because it is growing like a weed. It is a herbaceous perennial and it can grow over 3 feet tall. It can produce beautiful white, yellow or pink flowers, depending on the variety grown.
I took these photos (2 days a part) so that you could see the progression of the leaf structure and how fast this plant is growing from one day to the next.
The leaves grow up out of the main stock and then, they unroll themselves.
The root of the turmeric plant can be eaten raw but it can also be boiled, dried and ground into a beautiful orange powder. We know turmeric as a significant ingredient in curry. It's what gives curry, its bright orange-very- yellow appearance. Food can also be wrapped in the leaves of turmeric and cooked.
Wish Me Luck Wintering Turmeric In Canada
I welcome your comments and invite you to follow me on my journey...no herb is safe. ;)
~ Rebecca Ryan
Great topic @rebeccaryan
Thanks for sharing
Hahaha! No herb is spared from the determination of my green thumb @mahmoudh! Thanks for sharing this gif! I love it!
a post on how we can use turmeric powder topically to remove the chest pain and flu step by step https://steemit.com/story/@adnanrabbani/home-remedy-or-how-to-cure-cold-flu-and-chest-pain-with-turmeric-poweder-or-i-learn-it-from-my-grand-mother-or-a-true-story-of
well turmeric plant is awesome plant and yes it is beneficial but i also like to say that it's after effect is so hot if any small child or person have chest pain due to flu then if we spring the turmeric powder on cotton and give that a little heat and then we put that cotton on to patient chest surprisingly it absorbs all the pain and it also removes the flu. thanks for sharing
Yes! It's medicinal values don't stop with food. There is some heat to this root, just like ginger it is also warming. No doubt it would be good to use as a plaster to encourage the movement of sputum. In Canada, we would use mustard seed the same way. Mustard can burn, so care must be exercised. I have never used turmeric as a topical but I think that it would be highly effective. Thanks for your great comment @adnanrabbani!;)
yes one day my boy got extreme flu and he is crying with chest pain my grand mother ask me bring some turmeric powder and i do and she do the process which i tell you in upper comment and i am surprised my boy stop crying as the turmeric powder absorbs his cold and pain and he go to sleep the very next day he looks quite fresh and amazingly his flu also disappears. on that day i realized that how much effective the turmeric powder is as topical use.
I would just love to see some of these remedies showcased on the Steemit blockchain. I am making an effort to share these things and preserve them so that the skills and knowledge will not be lost for future generations. Is your Grandmother still alive and do you have her procedure for making the turmeric paste and applying it as a plaster?
I think that it would make for a really interesting post. :)
well my grand mother is passed but i gained so much knowledge from her and use of turmeric powder topically i learn from her, the process is so simple we actually buy turmeric powder from shop and then also buy one cotton roll then we cut the piece of the cotton roll according to the patient chest then we spread the turmeric powder on that cut piece of cotton roll then we also put one or two little pieces of onion on that cotton then we put that piece on steel or iron plate and also place some oil in plate before heat so that cotton won't got stick with it as we heat it then we place that plate on stove and heat it little so that it won't burn the skin then we put that cotton piece on to the patient chest then we take a piece of cloth and tie up the cotton piece on the chest so the piece can't move, if we apply that process to little child he or she might feel little irritation initially but as the time pass on the turmeric powder start it's effect and the patient feels really good and go to sleep and the good time to apply this is at bedtime, one main thing to remember in that process is that we have to heat the cotton piece as much so it won't burn the skin. i hope now you learn that process it's pretty simple and easy but extremely effective when someone has extreme cold or flu.
Thank you for sharing this information with everyone!
I still think this should be a separate post for all of us over in North America who are not knowledgable in the arts of making effective herbal plasters.
The next time you make this plaster will you please consider taking photos "step by step" to show how it is done properly with the correct ratio of powder and heat from the stove.
My questions are:
how much turmeric powder do you use?
how long do you heat the cotton plaster on the stove?
Does the turmeric/onion mixture go directly against the patient's bare skin?
Do you use an oil on the skin of the patient's chest first to keep the turmeric from staining?
ok right now in our country there is eid festival and me and my family are on holidays when i reach back to my home i will make a post on it that how we can use turmeric powder topically to remove the chest pain and flu step by step and in that post i also answer your questions. thanks for your interest.
Fantastic @adnanrabbani! I will look forward to reading it. Please send me a link when you do post it. I don't want to miss it. :)
I have followed you. :)
I'm going to have to keep my eye out for the sprouting machine you mentioned, I didn't know there was such a thing, too cool!
I love turmeric & yet had never seen it outside it's root form, hopefully it'll be happy for it's second chance at life with someone so willing to help it survive & maybe thrive.
I'm lazy & haven't cooked with it, but whenever I eat a meal with a lot of pepper I pop a turmeric pill. It's magic stuff.
I'm glad that little root landed in the perfect home!
The easy green sprouter was like finding gold. Here's the link: http://www.easygreen.com/product-category/sprouters/
I have the mikrofarm model. I use it all the time to sprout anything. :)
Thank you so much!
@rebeccaryan
That is interesting. That is one of the items of supplements that I use every day.
And I have imagined that it is one of the best of the three that I consume.
Your plant looks very healthy. Even though I take Turmeric every day. I had never thought of trying to grow it. Hmmmm
You are always showing us something very interesting. I am thinking that you will be successful in keeping this plant alive as long as you want.
Maybe you will show us more about the plant as it grows.
Your Steemit friend
Francis
I certainly will...the test will be when we start using the wood stove.
@rebeccaryan
I will have to thank you here. Even if it doesn't pertain to this post.
The lady that I begged for of you is one of my relatives. She is new to Steemit and
doesn't understand much about how it all works and what to expect.
Some of her ignorance is my fault. And my other brothers as well.
fyi. rollonk is my oldest son. cowboyk and pastorike are two of my many brothers.
Just so you know.
countrygalk is one of my niece's daughter. I don't know her very well.
I hurts me so much to see them work so hard and see very little reward.
At least it seems that way when we start.
I wanted a way to give her a happy day. And bless your heart. You did it for me.
Try as I may. No way can I ever repay you for your love and kindness. No way.........
But I will thank you over and over.
And each time I upvote your posts. I will keep in mind what you have done for all of
us on Steemit that follow you.
I won't cry. Well. Maybe I will.
Francis
Oh!!! This all makes sense now...thank you for connecting the relationship dots, so to speak. I didn't have a very big 100% power vote today, but I do think it gave her 1 SBD and I will try to watch out for your group. I'm still trying to work into some kind of routine so that I don't miss posts. Please keep telling them to keep trying Francis...being consistent has worked for you and I. :)
@rebeccaryan,
This is a very common plant in my country and yeah it's very useful in lots of ways! Actually that's great that you decided to plant it at your home! If you have a space (I mean garden) try it plant there. Hope it will grow better there.
Thanks for sharing such wonderful life experience with us!
Cheers~
It won't survive the winter in Canada @theguruasia. 2 nights ago, our temperature dropped to 0 degrees, during the night. It will have to survive as a house plant and if I am successful at keeping it alive than I will plant it at the end of May, next year, outside. Our growing season is relatively short in Canada...it begins at the end of May and goes until the end of September, if we are lucky.
Thanks for commenting. I would love to know what your favourite use of this root is. ;)
What pretty leaves! That plant looks really happy in your care. The colder weather of winter will be a challenge, for sure. I've tried growing a couple tropical plants, but I keep my house too cool in the winter. It would be neat to use the leaves as a wrap in cooking something!
Hi @haphazard-hstead! Yes, that interested me too. I must look into some recipes that use the leaves as an outer wrap.
Wow so cool, I love turmeric, it's a daily staple for me both powder and fresh root, it's the best medicine. I'll be curious to see how this goes, I'm going to try it too...I don't have a sprout but I imagine that I can encourage on once summer's heat gives way to some moist weather.
I think if you keep the root moist it will root. I would try soaking the root for an hour in water and then wrap it in a wet paper-towel to keep it moist. Our sprouter mists for 10 minutes every 4 hours. The trick will be keeping the root from drying out while it's rooting.
such great advice thanks so much!!!
Excellent post and beautiful photos @rebeccaryan, turmeric is a very useful plant and you can drink it by adding to milk for weight loss and strengthening the body!
I love "golden milk" sweetened with raw bee honey @serkagan!
I'd like to see it grow and see the final product , pretty impressive
I'm going to do my best to keep this plant alive and hopefully get it to flower @journeyoflife. If/when, I am successful, I'll post a follow-up to show the progression. Normally, the roots are harvested from the plant once a year. Fingers crossed that I can pull this off...LOL!
this root looking like dog shit lol, may be i can find some outdoor.
Hahaha! I can think of no root that doesn't look like shit when you first pull it out of the ground.
The real magic is in knowing what to do with that "piece of shit" to transform it into something that has value.
LOL! In that light, it's very similar to a crypto-coin.
i like analogy of crypto-coin, only problem not all crypto-coins grow from shit to plant;)
Right, some will remain as shit and die, while others will continue to grow and eventually produce fruit. The skill is in knowing which ones to pick, nuture and hold as they grow. ;)