Which herbs do you have in mind? A lot of people wouldn't think of ginger as an Asian herb, but of course it is, and it's widely used in a number of cuisines. Same with garlic.

Here in my subtropical climate, I can grow a lot of 'Asian' herbs - ginger, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, cardamom, Asian mint to name a few. It's also very easy to grow greens like bok choy, choy sum, matsui and the like - these grow very quickly.

You need the right climate of course - hot and wet, as in the tropics. Some, like turmeric, prefer a bit of shade as well.

I was going to say something about there being many herbs in "common" use that were originally from Asia.

And are you considering culinary, medicinal, or both?

And if you are looking to turn this into a business, I would look for your potential customers first and see what they would buy or the requirements they would make of their growers.

FataMorgana

Have you checked on access to enough water to grow herbs quickly. In much of Nevada water is scarce and unless you have the proper water rights you can not drill.

It sounds like you need to do a lot of study on your project about things more than just plants. Things like shade houses, machinery, herbal storage, etc. Even though many herbs like it dryer they do not do well in 100F+.

Customers are not a problem, I have contacts with restaurants for culinary herbs. Water is also not a problem although a little costly. I've been growing vegetables for years and have Netafim drip tubing all over the property. Shade houses I built some years ago and I have one very large hoop house that I also built that I just need to put back up. Herbs do grow well here as do many other plants. There are a number of local gardeners growing for Farmers Markets and other businesses in the area.

Thank you for your replies, and thank you Fatamorgana, I wasn't aware of that.

Greg
Nevada

Which of the 'Asian Herbs' are you interested in growing? Once you have a list compiled of the product you know you have a ready market for, you can do a little bit of research on each of those plants to see if compatible with your climate, etc. That's how I would go about it, anyway.

Two herbs I would not be without in my garden are Thai basil and galangal. Thai basil has a very complex flavor with cinnamon and clove flavors predominating. It's wonderful for Asian soups, usually added to the bowl just before serving to give it a pleasant aroma. Galangal is related to ginger but very different in taste. It's essential to a lot of Southeast Asian recipes and can be hard to find and expensive when you do.

Since you aren't getting many answers to your questions.
I find my wife goes to the Asian markets for the following vegetables:
Bitter melon
Chinese Eggplant
Bell Peppers
Thai Peppers
KangKung - (some sort of water spinach)
jicama
japanese white turnip (forget the name but they are huge)
carrots
cabbage
bok choy
chinese cabbage
green beans (different types)
snow peas

hope that helps at little.

Thanks reynal, I appreciate your help. Yes, this forum does seem a little slow...

Greg
Nevada

A side note on the bok choy's there are literally dozens of pok/pak/bok choy's. From little tiny ones to very large. Could be a ninch market especially for the little ones but may be too hot most of the year in the area you are wanting to grow them in.

Thanks, maifleur. Actually we can grow just about everything here just not during July and August. During the fall - winter and part of spring can be, and is, quite pleasant. In fact it will freeze during the winter.

Greg
Nevada

I've grown Vietnamese coriander (rau ram), Thai basil, curry leaf, rau om, culantro, and perilla, all used in Asian cooking. Perhaps you could grow a few plants, bring samples around to your restaurant clients, let them experiment and tell you what they'd like more of.

All of them are identified with particular Asian cuisines, just as the common herbs you see at the farmer's market are identified with Mediterranean cooking. So to reach a wider market of adventurous home cooks, you could try giving away recipes that use your "heirloom" Asian herbs, give cooking demonstrations, and/or find Asian communities near you.

I would guess that, on the whole, herbs grown for their leaves would be a better economic bet for greenhouse growing than those grown for their roots or seeds. So ginger, galangal, turmeric, and cardamom might not pay enough per square foot grown indoors to make cultivating them worthwhile. They might be growable outdoors with irrigation in your climate, perhaps with some winter protection.