Gardening and cooking

Yesterday as I made an Indian dish (Chicken masala) I once again thought about the number of gerdeners that I know that also have a passion for cooking. We often exchange recipes almost as frequently as we exchange gardening ideas. While at the Home, Garden and Cottage Show a couple of weekends ago, we were situated across from the lady that sells those Titanium pots - the really expensive pots - and I had a great time exchanging cooking ideas.

Anyway, after cooking the chicken, I decided to check out the spices that I used to make the dish. In addition to the ginger, garlic, onion, salt and pepper, I used spices that included corriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, turmeric and something called garam masala. We all know, I think, that the ginger comes from a rhizome, garlic and onion is from a bulb but what about the other ingredients? And can you grow them here?

The perrenial coriander produces two products that we use in cooking. The leaves are called cilantro, while the seeds and roots are used in curries. Coriander prefers a cool damp Spring followed by a hot dry Summer. If using the leaves for cilantro (not a flavour I favour) then the plants could use part shade.

The seeds are used to produce the spice cumin and the plants grow best in a well drained soil with full sun. The seeds may not ripen in colder climates so if you are going to try it in our Zone 5A, you might be advised to start the plants indoors to give the seeds a chance to ripen.

Turmeric like Ginger comes from the rhizome. Like the other herbs, it grows bst in well drained soil in full sun but it does need sufficient water.

Cayenne of course is a pepper and we all know how they grow. And Garam Masala is a mixture of several spices including cinnamon. Perhaps as an experiment, I'll try to produce a small supply of my own curry spices.