As leaves turn color and sweaters are unpacked from a long summer slumber, I begin to thrill with the anticipation of an unusual crop whose harvest is timed for shorter days and blacker nights: Myoga ginger buds. Not only are they a delicacy (and challenging to source as an ingredient), but they are produced on a ginger that is relatively cold-hardy, and that grows very happily in a pot on my city terrace. It’s also best friends with those other autumn crops, pears and apples, on a plate.
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
Zingiber mioga (commonly known as myoga) is native to the cold valleys and slopes of East Asia, and can be grown year-round in-ground down to USDA growing zone 7 (at least, officially: Other sources have had success down to Zone 5b, unprotected). Myoga prefers high shade or semi-shade and its leaves will scorch a little in full sun.
Unlike so-called stem or common ginger, myoga is not cultivated for a fleshy rhizome. Instead, it is grown for its fat, rosy-white flower buds. They are firm and crisp, a seasonal delicacy in Japan and Korea. My own myoga buds begin to appear in late September, peaking in October. This year I have collected 16, from one pot.
Appearing at the base of the green, leafy stalks, myoga buds begin to poke out when they are about two to three inches long. To harvest, snap them off beneath the soil, where they narrow at the base. If left undisturbed the buds open into orchid-like yellow and white flowers.
On chilly, early-autumn mornings one of the first things I do is visit the myoga pot to wiggle my fingers in the good-smelling soil to see if a new bud has formed. It’s a small but exciting treasure hunt. Then they need a good wash, and can keep for two weeks in the refrigerator, if covered.
The plants I sourced came as starts from Strictly Medicinal Seeds, a nursery based in Oregon. Nearly five years later a small myoga forest is flourishing on our terrace in a sixteen-inch terra cotta pot.
But to the crux of the myoga matter: How about those winters? If it is hardy in-ground, what is its success in a pot, where conditions are more brutal? Does the plant survive outdoors, unprotected in a pot? The short answer, in my case, is no.
Early on, I hedged my bets, two winters in a row: One plant came indoors, and one stayed out. After one winter Terrace Myoga’s ropey roots had turned to mush. Living-room Myoga produced new shoots in mid-spring. In my outdoor pot the real issue was not necessarily the cold, but drainage. In a freeze the lower half of the pot turns solid; when it warms during some days, only the top thaws, creating an anaerobic swamp that cannot drain. This causes root rot, and root rot spells death. It’s brutal.
I divided the healthy plant and tried again for the second winter. One in, one out. Out died. Possibly if I covered pot (with dry soil in it), things would go better, but for me, moving it indoors is easier.
