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uses for Curry plant
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Posted by botany_babe z8OR (My Page) on Thu, Jun 30, 05 at 18:52
| Hi ya'll ,
My Curry Plant was taking over, so I Cut it down to regrow. In the mainstay I have harvested a huge amount of Curry Plant, and I don't know what to do with it.
Any ideas of how to dry, store, and use it? thought about making a salad dressing, but want more ideas and uses.
Thanks for the help
Botanybabe |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| Which curry plant do you have? Do you have the latin name? One is inedible.... they only call it curry plant because it smells like curry. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| If it's the little grey-leafed shrub that looks rather like rosemary, it's a Curry Plant. It's edible, but I wouldn't bother. The flavour is so vague your taste-buds have to be super-sensitive to notice it. The plant, dried or fresh, isn't even much chop as an insect repellent. The flowers, which have no perfume, can be dried and used in arrangements. As a herb, it's not very useful, but it's pretty in the garden. I'd leave it there. Give it a little haircut to keep it tidy and lush (and to propagate from), but otherwise, regard it as more of a novelty plant than anything else. If it's leaves of the Curry Leaf Tree, they don't taste or smell like curry at all, but are often used in curry powder blends, and in 'curry' dishes along with other herbs and spices. It's not used as a substitute for curry on its own. The leaves are best frozen (on their stems to hold in the flavour) - they lose flavour when dried. If you want a curry flavour, use commercial blends, or start growing things like cardamom, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, ginger, coriander etc. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| How do you make your curry plant spread? Mine is not spreading. They do grow taller with flower, but the base is still tiny and doesn't have lots of leave. Am I suppose to pick the leave off more often like Rosermery to make it get bushier? Also, how do you propegate curry plant? I don't think it works through cutting. As for using it, I tried to chop the leaves and mix with some dry rub, and rub over chicken to make beer can chicken. The curry flavor is not very strong, but you still can detect it, especially once your mince/bruce them. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| I love indian curry and would love to get my hands on fresh curry leaves...... I dry them in my food dehydrator when out of season. I put them by the fire place sometimes too so they get nice and dry. then I put them in a plastic bag sealed tight. I dont know how good the plastic is for the taste but it still tastes fine to me. I prefer them fresh! The leaves are good for stomache illness so I have heard. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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Hi,
mosesong: to propagate curry plant you can do any of the following.
SEEDS:It is very easy to germinate fresh seeds. If these seeds have any soft pulp attached be sure to remove it and wash the seeds before planting. Wash the seeds with mild soap and water before planting. Be sure to use a well draining soil muixture and plant seeds at 3/4" depth. Requires bright light, warmth and high humidity. Do not keep the soil wet. Allow the soil to dry to 1/2" depth before watering again.
When the curry plant flowers and fruits, you see berries appearing at the very tips of the branches. The fruits are best plucked when they are half ripe or when fully ripe. The fruits should never be allowed to dry, because the curry plant seeds in them lose their viability when they shrivel. Peel the seed out of half ripe or fully ripe fruits by squeezing out the flesh before planting. The fruit around the seed may slow down germination. Seeds are best planted in seed raising mixture. They are planted very shallow and germinate in 10 days depending on temperature and germinate best with warm soil 70 to 80 F.
SUCKERS: For the plant to develop the suckers one must trim the plant heavily. If the plant is more than 10 to 12 feet in height trim the branches to keep 6 to 10 inches in length. Suckers will develop in about 4 to 6 months.
Plant in the container will not grow tall as the tree.
Another way of propagating this plant is by burying about 2 inches long pcs. of thick roots in the soil. Shoots will develop in about 2 months but it will take longer time for the roots to develop. This method works well in hot summer. From LEAF CUTTINGS:just strip the lower leaves & put it in the ground in moist dense soil. Also, they root best in shade.
Hope it helps!
Neerukat |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| Hello! I just bought a small curry plant from a garden center. I bought it primarily as a novelty--because it really does smell like curry. It is the dusty-looking, rosemary-looking plant. The information that came with it says it only grows 18" to 24" tall. Sounds like some of them get much bigger. ??? Do I have a different kind? Will mine get big? I hope so. Rosemary gets big here, but I don't have any experience with curry plants. Any help? Thank you! :) |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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| Just to clear up the id, 'curry plant' generally refers to Helichrysum italicum while 'curry leaf' generaly means Murraya koenigii. The latter is the culinary one. Curry plant is unlikely to grow as tall as most rosemary (not counting the prostrate types). The branches are laxer and less shrubby. It tends to sprawl more like a santolina. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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- Posted by andy_sa South Australia (My Page) on
Wed, Jan 27, 10 at 2:07
| Nappyroots - have you tried freezing curry leaves? They seem to keep the aroma/taste better.As for the dried ones, a relative used to keep them in a jar of spice powder. She never left them too long before cooking with them so the two flavours never mixed. |
RE: uses for Curry plant
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lets don't get confused here. The so-called "curry plant" has no(very little) culinary use. I have heard tht it is used in pot-pori. I bought one last year and read the label and found out what it is. I returned it back.
The curry leaf plant is the one that its leaves have culinary use. |
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