Question for the Ginger Folks

My sister and I recently bought our first Ginger plants. We noticed this "stumpy" looking thing between the leaves (on the soil). Looked like a gnarly knuckle.

A few weeks later, we visit this new gardening/'gift place and the owner's outside watering the plants. She has huge elephant ears and she plucks up this potato looking thing and tells us that they eat them (she's Asian). We talk for a bit and ask her if it's like bamboo shoots, etc. that we usually see in Chinese food. She says yes, that they slice them and use them in all kinds of things.

My sister asked me if I thought perhaps that the gnarly knuckle thing on our Gingers were ginger root? Hmmmmmmmm

Have we lost our minds???

Janet

Here is the Ginger we bought.

I'm new to gingers, but maybe yours is a curcuma (it looks like the curcuma I bought). The spice turmeric comes from one of the curcuma species.

Thanks for your info BB. I went out after I made that post and took a photo of the gnarly knuckles. Didn't get a chance until now to download it to the computer.

I've decided to try and make myself an herb garden. Although I've heard of Tumeric, I don't know that I've ever used it though. What is it used in?

Janet

Used a lot in pickles, in middle Eastern and Indian cooking, probably a lot of other cuisines too. Check the site called GingersRUs, he has an incredible amount of info on all types of gingers. As I said, I'm new, so new my curcuma is barely coming up from the potting mix in its pot. I could be wrong, I was judging by the flower.

I'll be sure to check that site out. Thanks for the tip. I asked Connie if she knew anything about Tumeric today and we guessed that it was maybe used for chicken, like sage.

Thanks again for your help. You know more about them than we do. :-)

Janet

It does look like a curcuma i had to pull mine up today because they were waterlogged after the storm and there were strings of onion like bulbs on them all, maybe ill pull some off for a bite LOL.

Tumeric is also used to reduce inflammation and is one of the main ingredients used in natural remedies for joint pain and swelling.

My dad has advanced altzheimer's and one of his Indian nurses gives him a weekly tumeric chew that they use in her country which supposedly helps slow the process.

Prevention is the best cure, maybe you could have a medicine garden too.

Thanks Celt for the additional info about Tumeric. I also appreciate both of you IDing that Ginger. The tag that was in it had the usual Tropical Plant blurb with no ID whatsoever. Fortunately we know the gal where we bought them and she told us they were Gingers, but I didn't think at that time to get the ID name for them.

There are many beautiful Gingers out there and I'm sure we'll have more before we know what hit us. :-)

Janet

Turmeric is curcuma domestica, you use the rhizome not the 'onion' looking things, they are for water storage, for the ginger, not cooking for you.
The curcuma in your picture appears to be australasica ,"Aussie Plume" is the common name.
Liz

Oh yeah, Turmeric rhizome is yellow when you break into it and the inflorescence is white to a very pale pink blush. There is also one from vietnam that has orange color instead of yellow.
Liz

The anti-inflammatory component of turmeric is called curcumin. In my day job at a med school, I do research on aspects of the inflammatory cascade that curcumin inhibits. It's also part of a pathway that drives cancer cells. People are studying curcumin seriously as a future drug. Now my curcuma, Tokyo Rose, is just hanging around, not doing much of anything.

I stopped in an Indian/Asian grocery that just opened up around the corner from me and noted that they did not have any fresh turmeric, so I offered them some. They stopped by my house last evening to pick it up. Her parents were visiting from India and she said they use the fresh turmeric in a Hindu religious ceremony as well as for cooking. First I had heard of that so I went to the web and found this:

Turmeric and kumkum are the very essence of visible auspiciousness, in Hindu India. Whole dried tubers of turmeric are a must in tamboolam, as are small containers of kumkum, which again have turmeric as an important ingredient. Bunches of freshly dug turmeric adorn the puja room on special days.

and this:
Turmeric Mala is used to perform Anusthan (special prayers) and destroy enemies and succeed in law suits. If a man has fallen prey to Jaundice, he should wear mala of turmeric, he would surely be cured . One who wears this mala attains peace of mind and gets rid of anxiety, depression and tensions. The person also acquires a good amount of spiritual powers.

and this:
Ghari Puja
This is a religious ceremony performed on the eve of the wedding day in the respective homes of the couple. The priest performs prayers with rice, coconut, wheat grains, oil, betel nuts and turmeric. During this event, the mother and close female relatives dress up in their finery. They carry earthenware pots of water on their head and plant a small stalk in their garden in celebration of the marriage. Nowadays, the Ghari Puja is often combined with the cleansing ceremony (Pithi) during which the bride and bridegroom are pasted with turmeric powder in a beautification process.

and this:
Tilaka is a mark of auspiciousness. It is put on the forehead with sandal paste, sacred ashes or Kumkuma. The devotees of Siva apply sacred ashes (Bhasma) on the forehead, the devotees of Vishnu apply sandal paste (Chandana), and the worshippers of Devi or Sakti apply Kumkuma, a red turmeric powder.

Okay, I'll stop here. It seems that turmeric can do just about anything! :)

BTW, technically the botanical name is Curcuma longa - not Curcuma domestica, which is an obsolete name. For a full and far too detailed explanation of this, go to my website at
http://www.gingersrus.com/DataSheet.php?PID=3086

Dave Skinner
www.gingersrus.com

Thank you all so much for this information. I like this statement made by Dave Skinner...

Dave,
I guess we'd better let Tom know, since he still calls it domestica :) That was where I got it from, when I bought his Curcuma domestica x "Bright White'. Him and Russell were the ones who told me it was domestica, I'll let them know.
Liz