7 spices to grow in the garden

Curcuma longa

Curcuma longa, also called wild saffron or Indian saffron, is a relative of ginger from whose rootstock a bright orange powder with a highly aromatic peppery flavour is extracted.

Description

Curcuma longa somewhat resembles a small banana plant and forms a clump of attractive leaves at the centre of which a decorative cream-pink spike of flowers develops.

Uses

Turmeric rootstock is harvested in late summer, when foliage begins to yellow. It can be eaten fresh, grated, but if you want to make your own turmeric, blanch the rootstocks to remove the skin. Then leave them to dry in the sun before grinding them into powder.

With its beautiful golden hue, turmeric colours and lends an exotic scent and a mellow flavour to certain dishes (rice, sauces, cooked vegetables). Turmeric is one of essential ingredients in a good curry (spice blend). Turmeric is a miraculous spice! It is credited with powerful anti-inflammatory and antidepressant properties, and also with the ability to help prevent some cancers. Young shoots and flowers are used in Thai cuisine to flavour fish dishes.

To grow in the garden

It is a frost-tender plant that is grown a little like a dahlia (you need to lift the rootstocks to store them over winter), planted in open ground in very mild climate or in pots elsewhere. Turmeric requires sun and fertile, well-drained soil that stays fairly cool. It is ideal for adding a small exotic, lush touch to the garden and will also find its place in the garden or even in the vegetable patch alongside aromatic plants.

→ Learn more about Curcuma with our complete fact sheet and on our blog with Where do they come from?: Curcuma

Chillies

Sweet Californian chilli, Espelette pepper, Cayenne pepper (one of the hottest chillies in the world!), or Jalapeño pepper or Mexican chilli, there isn’t just one chilli but many! Hundreds of varieties generally come from Capsicum annuum, with varied colour, shape and heat. The heat of chilli is measured on an 11-step scale (Scoville scale): neutral, mild, warm, tangy, hot, strong, fiery, burning, torrid, volcanic and explosive.

Description

They form a shrub of narrow leaves with an erect habit, sometimes reaching 1 metre in height, and produce small flowers that develop into hollow fruits containing seeds, whose colour and shape vary depending on variety.

Uses

They can be eaten fresh, prepared as purées or preserves, marinated in oil with herbs, grilled as a side dish or main course, or dried and ground into powder. Chillies are grown in exactly the same way as their cousins, peppers, from which they differ by their piquant flavour.

This fruit, changing from green to yellow then red at ripeness, depending on variety, is harvested from July to November and eaten fresh or dried as a condiment to enhance dishes with its spicy flavour.

Growing them in the garden

They are perennial plants in tropical climate but are grown as annuals in our latitudes. If you opt for container cultivation, overwinter your chilli plants in a warm place during the off-season. They like sun and heat and will tolerate most soils, although they prefer rich, loose and well-drained soil.

→ Discover our wide range of Chillies and Peppers and our blog article Where do they come from? Paprika

Sichuan pepper

Zanthoxylum piperitum and Zanthoxylum simulans are probably the best known and most cultivated of the Sichuan peppers. They produce remarkably aromatic berries whose dried, ground husk is used as a spice. They are highly prized in cooking.

Description

These large, deciduous, very thorny bushes are valued both for their ornamental qualities and for their culinary interest! They offer an unobtrusive spring flowering followed by the famous small pink-red berries (not to be confused with “pink berries”). Their fine, light, finely divided and aromatic foliage also displays superb autumn colours.

Uses

Sichuan pepper has a flavour at once spicy, woody, lemony and slightly peppery, yet mild. It is traditionally part of the “five-spice” blend. In cooking, only the red husk that surrounds the seed is used. These must therefore be separated by hand and ground just before use. They flavour many dishes!

To grow in the garden

Zanthoxyllum can tolerate temperatures down to at least -15 °C and grow in full sun or partial shade, sheltered from cold, dry winds, in any sufficiently well-drained soil. The bush can fruit from a very young age! It is ideal in a free-form hedge or as a defensive, as well as edible, hedgerow.

→ See our detailed sheet : Sichuan pepper, Zanthoxylum : planting, to grow and harvest

Saffron crocus

Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber), to which all sorts of aphrodisiac powers are ascribed, produces roots (rootstocks) prized for their delicious lemony flavour and for their medicinal properties.

Description

On a root covered with a light beige skin, ginger develops large aromatic lanceolate leaves about one metre tall. Flowering, in the form of very fragrant white and yellow flowers washed with red and set with green bracts punctate with bright pink, occurs in summer but is rare in our climates.

Uses

Ginger is harvested when stems dry out and yellow, 6 to 9 months after planting. Ginger roots are eaten freshly harvested, taking care to peel them to fully enjoy their piquant aroma. They are used in fresh fruit juices or grated to flavour a fruit salad, dried or ground to a powder to bring a lemony, camphor-like flavour to some cooked dishes. Ginger can also be candied in sugar or enjoyed as a tisane. Roots keep for several months in a dry place or in the freezer; their flavour will then intensify.

To grow it in the garden

Tender to cold, this tropical plant loves warmth (25°C) and constant humidity. Here, it is mainly grown in a pot, sometimes in open ground in regions with hot summers. Ginger thrives in light, well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade.

→ Find out more with our full fact sheet:  the Ginger: to grow, care for and harvest

Cumin

Cumin, Cuminum cyminum, also called “false anise”, is an annual herbaceous plant that produces very aromatic seeds used in cooking as a spice.

Description

Cumin forms a tuft 30 to 70 cm high with a light, frail habit, bearing thin channelled stems and very finely divided dark green thread-like foliage. Small white flowers gathered in light umbels appear in summer. They develop into fruits, ovoid seeds, formed of two slightly curved brown-grey cups (which distinguishes them from caraway, which has only one). They have a spicy anise-like, very aromatic flavour.

Uses

As soon as they begin to brown, cumin seeds are dried. They give off an intense anise-like, peppery and slightly acrid aroma. Cumin is generally used in traditional spice blends (chilli, Garam masala or Ras-el-Hanout). Entire or crushed seeds can also be used alone to flavour tagines and couscous, scent breads, certain cheeses (Munster, Gouda), sauerkraut, purees and some pastries.
Besides being aromatic, cumin is reputed to aid digestion and is also enjoyed as a digestive infusion. Once dried, seeds keep for several years in airtight jars.

To grow in the garden

Cumin is a Mediterranean plant that prefers warmth and full sun, well-drained, light soil rich in humus. Very hardy down to -15°C, it can be grown both in open ground and in pots on a balcony or terrace. Seeds are sown in spring, directly in place.

→ Discover our range of cumin

Bredy Mafana

Bredy Mafana Bredy Mafana also called Brède mafane, “Cresson de Para” or “Cresson du Brésil” is an unusual aromatic and culinary vegetable plant, widely grown in Madagascar for its leaves with a sharp, peppery taste (in Malagasy, “bredy mafana” literally means “herb” and “hot”).

Description

Like watercress, it forms a herbaceous clump about 15 cm high and 20 cm wide made up of green ovate, slightly dentate leaves, very aromatic. From August to October, edible flowers, with an even stronger flavour appear as bright yellow pom-poms or yellow tinged with red in Bredy Mafana Red.

Uses

Leaves and flowers are harvested as needed from May to September. They are eaten fresh or dried. They flavour many exotic dishes, bringing a powerful, piquant taste whose briefly anaesthetising effect can be surprising! Use sparingly. Leaves can be added to salad mixes, cooked like spinach, or included in quiches and soups. Flower buds will flavour salads. Bredy Mafana features in the traditional Malagasy dish romazava.

Growing in the garden

It is an exotic plant well acclimatised to our climates but sensitive to cold, drought and waterlogged soil. It is grown as an annual outdoors, in pots or window boxes, especially in northern France. Sow in spring in a free-draining, cool, rich soil and place in sun.