Curry leaves

[Lime_Pickle]

I can get these dried but, even better, I can now get them fresh. Except they don't keep well, at all (e.g. in the fridge, or treating them like cut flowers) and I can only buy them - they come as a small branch/twig with the leaves attached - in quantities too large to use immediatley.

Has anyone had any luck with freezing them? Do they still keep their fragrance?

Or with growing the tree in a temperate climate?

[Iolar]

I freeze them in zip-loc freezer bags. I remove them from the twig before freezing (because the guy in the shop told me to) and cook them from frozen. They keep for about three months, then they lose flavour. I've never tried to grow the plant.

[Lime_Pickle]

I've just bought a baby Murraya koenigii. It's 24" high. I shall keep it in a biggish pot and put it in the greenhouse (or maybe bring it indoors) in winter.

[korgy]

up

[ceylon_tea]

I have a huge bag of frozen curry leaves in the freezer. It freezes well for 2 - 3 months

[Lime_Pickle]

I have something even better . . .

[Scrubb]

Oh, Wow! How hard is it to grow?

[Lime_Pickle]

At long as you bring it in before the first frosts and put it in an unheated but sunny room you can overwinter them. It will look dead but then suddenly start putting leaves out in about May.

[rezuar]

I totally need a greenhouse.

[BeatRaven]

A unheated sunny room is hard to find.

If it's sunny, you want to sit in it and then turn on a little heat.

[ceylon_tea]

Nice lime. We tried to grow it but clover mites destroyed it.

[gnd]

I have something even better . . .

nice!

I can only (sporadically available) buy fresh branches, leaves on; then yes freeze.

[Boinkity_Boink]

We have a plant growing in a pot the previous tenants left. In spite of my best efforts to ignore it to death, it continues to hang in there. But we don't live in a temperate climate.

We buy bunches of the curry leaves. Like your bunches, way more than we could ever use before they go bad. I put a branch with maybe 15 leaves in a single 4 quart cooking-size of curry. Or 5-6 in a lentil dish that uses 1-2 cups of dried lentils.

Our leaves keep quite a while. At least two weeks in the fridge. But here they're so cheap it doesn't really matter.

[Boinkity_Boink]

BTW, that cucumber at the bottom of the picture might have that wilting disease that so frequently gets cukes and squashes.

[Lime_Pickle]

No, it just needs watering. Cucumbers do marvellously here.

[mishmish]

On a trip to the nursery a couple of years ago I was astounded to learn that curry is from a bush. Idiot did not buy it immediately. As I recall it was because it was extremely curry smelling. I have never seen one since. Idiot. Idiot.

[BeatRaven]

You can order one on amazon that's about two thirds as big as Limepickle's for $45. I've taken 2 big branches off of it in 2 months.

Also, considered powdered curry leaf. Add it just before serving since it's a very subtle flavor. I mostly use my fresh curry leaf for garnish.

Powdered kafir lime leaf is good too. It's what's in those pricey thai curry packets. Powdered galangal sadly doesn't translate. I substitute numeric.

[mishmish]

And how am I supposed to get a live curry plant into a foreign country?? I bet I'd have to fill out 10 forms in triplicate and mortgage my soul. Also, as I recall, the plant I saw on sale had small brushy leaves and not at all like Lime Pickles, which looks to me like a wisteria sapling (much better scent). However, I am still an idiot.

I'm going to look into that kafir lime leaf. The whole kafir lime leaf and limes in general issue around here is inexplicable and unacceptable. I should start a lime-related import business.

Tumeric substitutes for galangal? Wut?

[VinnyD]

They look sort of similar.

[mishmish]

Galangal and tumeric? yes they do, but have you ever tried a fresh tumeric root? I have never come across fresh galangal so I may be comparing apples to cucumbers, but it doesn't taste like the galangal in dried chips I have used, and tumeric powder is totally off the table in this race. *confused* I should probably just try it some time.

[leela]

I brought barberries back from Iran. I assumed that the fruits in my mix melange (I love that they call it that) weren't barberries because they're smaller and black. But I'm wondering if they're just barberries that have been dried further.

[VinnyD]

Mishmish, yes, of course. They are nothing alike.

[mishmish]

wot? Vinny did you just make a funny? the universe is going to get all wonky.

[BeatRaven]

In S. East Asian Mythology, both tumeric and galangal are thought to be cooling elements, and so are somewhat interchangeable. It's all too typical of Mr I know I fact to point out that they are not exactly alike.

If you get a fresh tumeric root (or several), plant it in a pot. It'll grow a bit and you'll get some beautiful, delicate flowers to eat too. Fresh tumeric will stain a countertop, so be mindful when you slice/grate it.

Obv. powdered stuff like lime leaf and curry leaf powder is less pungent than the real thing. So put in a lot.

[cuchulainn]

You can buy dried galangal and soak it in water before using.

[mishmish]

Not sure what a 'E.Asian mythological cooling element' tastes like but I'll take your word for it