Growing Food In The Winter- For Cheap: Turmeric Edition!

Hi Folks!  So, today I thought I would talk about one of my many current and ongoing food/ plant projects:  My Turmeric.  Now, before we get started, let me explain my title.  What I mean to say is Growing Food In The Winter- Inexpensively, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it, you know?  Turmeric and all of its wonderful properties is definitely not a cheap date!

After a couple of weeks in their pots.

Last fall, I visited my local organic vegetable store, Kredls, and while shopping I grabbed some organic turmeric. There are SO many health benefits to turmeric and since I'm not a doctor and because I could ramble on and turn this into a HUGE post on the subject, I'm going to tell you to make sure to take some time to check them out!

After using up most of my turmeric, I had two small pieces left and I figured I would try my hand at seeing if these roots ( the part of the turmeric plant we eat) would grow more turmeric.  Now, I would suggest using organic turmeric whenever possible and that goes for any food plant you are going to try and propagate from a cutting or root.  Oftentimes, conventional plants are sprayed with inhibitors that make it difficult to regrow plants from the cuttings. Even if you can get it to sprout, it will often struggle with producing and even then, you are bringing icky sprays into the picture. I digress....

I put them on my window sill... and waited.  A few weeks later I was most pleasantly surprised to see them springing shoots, similarly to what garlic looks like, if it is laying around too long (you can also plant sprouting garlic!).  Once the shoots got about an inch long, I put them in two small pots of organic earth on the window sill, and resumed my waiting.  After a couple of days they started reaching through the soil and quickly started unravelling their leaves, one by one.

   

Approximately three

 weeks later

 The first picture was taken a couple of weeks after the shoots started pushing up through the soil.  The second picture was taken about 3 weeks after that. (Pardon the window sill, one of the cats decided to go poke around in the dirt, avid little gardeners that they are!). 

The last picture is now, taken about 1.5 months after the second photo.  As you can see, they are growing into nice sized plants and will soon be moving to bigger pots, to allow for their ever-expanding roots (more turmeric pour moi!).  I'm pleased with their progress.  You have to remember, these aren't tiny little string roots we are talking about.  Picture ginger.  These are good sized roots, so their leaves are really like the tip of the iceberg ( or will be).  I haven't decided if I will plant them in the garden this year, or keep them in their pots.  I'm leaning more towards the latter, so I can move the pot indoors in the fall and continue to  enjoy their bounty next winter.

Currently, about 1.5 

months later.

How can you eat the roots if they are in their pots, you ask?  Simple!  Carefully remove the plant, take a snippet of the root and place it back into the pot.  If you have a few growing, you can alternate which plant to take from, allowing them to establish again before the next up-root.  It's similar to growing green onion on your window sill, just that you are using the other part of the plant.

So there you have it!  A way to turn some leftover root into a source of fresh turmeric that can be used year-round.  Give this method a try using ginger or garlic and see what happens!  I have many other plants started around the house, which are bound for the homestead garden. I'll be posting about those plant adventures soon!

New to turmeric?  Try out this Turmeric Tea at Wellness Mama.  It is a great immune booster, so its perfect if you feel a case of the sniffles coming on. It calls for coconut milk, but I have used almond milk as well as dairy, so it lends itself to variation to suit your taste and what you have on hand.  You should always make a point to use local unpasteurised honey whenever possible, as it has  antibacterial and antimicrobial properties- so good for you!  I'll be posting about honey in the future, too!