Ruhi Ginger / Turmeric
We are very excited about our ginger (photo below of ruhi ginger) and turmeric crop -- and we are just about. ready to harvest both. This is a small experimental planting in one of the hoop houses, and I really do not know what I am doing -- but tonight I am bringing home a piece of young ginger to try, so success enough. The turmeric has been fascinating too -- and the more I learn about this herbaceous perennial rhizome, the more interested I become. Tumeric is also in the ginger family (Zingiberacaea), and has been used for flavoring and coloring (cheese, mustard) food, and medicine for several thousand years. In Southern coastal India, and in Pakistan, entire turmeric trading centers were established. Trading is still brisk -- it is a huge export of India. Ayurvedic medicine practitioners in India have been studying and using turmeric for at least 2,500 years. It has an earthy flavor for sure, and thus the Latin derivation "terra merita" may be translated to mean "deserving earth".