My fenugreek may be your methi. The aromatic, cuboid seeds of Trigonella foenum-graecum—a clover-like legume whose botanical name translates as Greek hay—are used as a spice in food traditions spanning South and West Asia, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Sprouted, the seeds are an accessible and easy way of growing your own fenugreek microgreens, and allow you to enjoy its friendly aroma and nuttily bitter, green-tonic flavor, even if you don’t have a garden, or if it is the middle of winter. A lush tray of fenugreek seedlings on a windowsill is a satisfying thing when the world is frozen.
Above: Fenugreek microgreens.
Methi is a pan-South Asian term for the plant, and hilbeh is transliterated from Arabic. The Turkish name is çemen. The plant is probably native to the broad region encompassing Southern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and West Asia. Fenugreek smells, to me, like the Westernized commercial Indian curry powders I grew up with, long before learning that “curry” is a catchall for a complex array of dishes in a flock of cultural traditions. The smell of fenugreek is often described as strongly reminiscent of maple syrup—compelling.
Above: Fenugreek growing in-ground.
Fenugreek makes a good cover crop, since the legume fixes nitrogen in the soil, as well as a green vegetable: the well-known Indian aloo methi combines the tender stems and leaves of fenugreek (methi) with potatoes. (Years ago, it was Madhur Jaffrey’s memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees, that gave me a longing for fresh fenugreek greens.)
Above: Fenugreek microgreens with warm potatoes, eggs and turmeric butter.
And it is with potatoes that I like to deploy my own microgreens: with warm baby potatoes, eggs, and vivid turmeric butter. The fresh greens add their powerfully sweet aroma along with their much-appreciated trace of bitterness to a plate that brims with functional food goodness.
Above: Fenugreek seeds for microgreens—I use store-bought spices for sprouting.
To make your own fenugreek microgreens no special equipment is required. No soil, no pot with drainage. I use a ceramic tray, but a shallow soup bowl, or enamelware would work, too.
The seeds are soaked, covered for three days (to create a dark environment), and then uncovered and placed somewhere bright. You only add water when it threatens to dry up, keeping the sprouting seeds very lightly moist. As to where to find fenugreek seeds for growing the microgreens, I have been very lucky with store-bought spices—100 percent germination rate, in fact, which surprised me. They are also available online especially for sprouting.
Above: Fenugreek seeds have sprouted after 48 hours in a shallow tray with water, covered. Above: A school slate is the cover for my microgreens.
Most crops are contaminated with fungal mycotoxins, but some foods are worse than others.
Oats can be thought of as “uniquely nutritious.” One route by which they improve human health is by providing prebiotics that “increase the growth of beneficial gut microbiota.” There are all manner of oats, ranging from steel-cut oats to, even better, intact oat groats (their form before being cut), all the way down to highly processed cereals, like Honey Nut Cheerios.
“Rolling crushes the grain, which may disrupt cell walls and damage starch granules, making them more available for digestion.” This is bad because we want the starch to make it all the way down to our colon to feed our good gut bacteria. Grinding oats into oat flour to make breakfast cereals is even worse. When you compare blood sugar and insulin responses, you can see significantly lower spikes with the more intact steel-cut oats, as shown below and at 0:54 in my video Ochratoxin in Certain Herbs, Spices, and Wine.
What about ochratoxin? As seen here and at 1:01 in my video, oats are the leading source of dietary exposure to this mold contaminant, but they aren’t the only source.
There is a global contamination of food crops with mycotoxins, with some experts estimating as much as 25% of the world’s crops being affected. That statistic is attributed to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, but it turns out the stat is bogus. It isn’t 25%. Instead, it may be more like 60% to 80%. “The high occurrence is likely explained by a combination of the improved sensitivity of analytical [testing] methods and the impact of climate change.”
Spices have been found to have some of the highest concentrations of mycotoxins, but because they are ingested in such small quantities, they aren’t considered to be a significant source. We can certainly do our part to minimize our risk, though. For instance, we should keep spices dry after opening sealed containers or packages.
What about dried herbs? In “Mycotoxins in Plant-Based Dietary Supplements: Hidden Health Risk for Consumers,” researchers found that milk thistle–based supplements had the highest mycotoxin concentrations. It turns out that humid, wet weather is needed during milk thistle harvest, which is evidently why they get so moldy. “Considering the fact that milk thistle preparations are mainly used by people who suffer from liver disease,” such a high intake of compounds toxic to the liver may present some concern.
Wine sourced from the United States also appears to have particularly high levels. In fact, the single highest level found to date around the world is in a U.S. wine, but there’s contamination in wine in general. In fact, some suggest that’s why we see such consistent levels in people’s blood—perhaps because a lot of people are regular wine drinkers.
Ochratoxin is said to be a kidney toxin with immunosuppressive, birth defect–causing, and carcinogenic properties. So, what about ochratoxin decontamination in wine? That is, removing the toxin? Ideally, we’d try to prevent the contamination in the first place, but since this isn’t always practical, there is increased focus on finding effective methods of detoxification of mycotoxins already present in foods. This is where yeast enters as “a promising and friendly solution,” because the mycotoxins bind to the yeast cell wall. The thought is that we could strain out the yeast. Another approach is to eat something like nutritional yeast to prevent the absorption.
It works in chickens. Give yeast along with aflatoxin (another mycotoxin), and the severity of the resulting disease is diminished. However, using something like nutritional yeast as a binder “depends on stability of the yeast-mycotoxin complex through the passage of the gastrointestinal tract.” We know yeasts can remove ochratoxin in foods, but we didn’t have a clue if it would work in the gut until 2016. Yeast was found to bind up to 44% of the ochratoxin, but, in actuality, it was probably closer to only about a third, since some of the bindings weren’t stable. So, if you’re trying to stay under the maximum daily intake and you drink a single glass of wine, even if your bar snack is popcorn seasoned with nutritional yeast, you’d still probably exceed the tolerable intake. But what does that mean? How bad is this ochratoxin? We’ll find out next.
ChòpnBlá»k is Houston at its most flavorful. Founded by Ope Amosu, a Houston-born James Beard semifinalist, the West African pop-up and food hall hit turned into a vibrant Montrose destination last fall. Bites show off bold West African flavors – think Buka Blá»k (red stew with tender short rib, rice and beans), Smokey Jollof Jambalaya, Polo Club Suya skewers and the decadent Dodo Old Fashioned cocktail starring sweet plantain and bourbon.
More than half of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) sufferers appear to have a form of atypical food allergy.
A chronic gastrointestinal disorder, irritable bowel syndrome affects about one in ten people. You may have heard about low-FODMAP diets, but they don’t appear to work any better than the standard advice to avoid things like coffee or spicy and fatty foods. In fact, you can hardly tell which is which, as shown below and at 0:27 in my video Friday Favorites: Fasting for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Most IBS patients, however, do seem to react to specific foods, such as eggs, wheat, dairy, or soy sauce, but when they’re tested with skin prick tests for typical food allergies, they may come up negative. We want to know what happens inside their gut when they eat those things, though, not what happens on their skin. Enter confocal laser endomicroscopy.
You can snake a microscope down the throat, into the gut, and watch in real-time as the gut wall becomes inflamed and leaky after foods are dripped in. Isn’t that fascinating? You can actually see cracks forming within minutes, as shown below and at 1:03 in my video. This had never been tested on a large group of IBS patients, though, until now.
Using this new technology, researchers found that more than half of IBS sufferers have this kind of reaction to various foods—“an atypical food allergy” that flies under the radar of traditional allergy tests. As you can see below and at 1:28 in my video, when you exclude those foods from the diet, there is a significant alleviation of symptoms.
However, outside a research setting, there’s no way to know which foods are the culprit without trying an exclusion diet, and there’s no greater exclusion diet than excluding everything. A 25-year-old woman had complained of abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea for a year, and drugs didn’t seem to help. But, after fasting for ten days, her symptoms improved considerably and appeared to stay that way at least 18 months later. It wasn’t just subjective improvement either. Biopsies were taken that showed the inflammation had gone down, her bowel irritability was measured directly, and expanding balloons and electrodes were inserted in her rectum to measure changes in her sensitivity to pressure and electrical stimulation. Fasting seemed to reboot her gut in a way, but just because it worked for her doesn’t mean it works for others. Case reports are most useful when they inspire researchers to put them to the test.
“Despite research efforts to develop a cure for IBS, medical treatment for this condition is still unsatisfactory.” We can try to suppress the symptoms with drugs, but what do we do when even that doesn’t work? In a study of 84 IBS patients, 58 of whom failed basic treatment (consisting of pharmacotherapy and brief psychotherapy), 36 of the 58 who were still suffering underwent ten days of fasting, whereas the other 22 stuck with the basic treatment. The findings? Those in the fasting group experienced significant improvements in abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety, and interference with life in general, which were significantly better than those of the control group. The researchers concluded that fasting therapy “could be useful for treating moderate to severe patients with IBS.”
Unfortunately, patient allocation was neither blinded nor randomized in the study, so the comparison to the control group doesn’t mean much. They were also given vitamins B1 and C via IV, which seems typical of Japanese fasting trials, even though one would not expect vitamin-deficiency syndromes—beriberi or scurvy—to present within just ten days of fasting. The study participants were also isolated; might that make the psychotherapy work better? It’s hard to tease out just the fasting effects.
Psychotherapy alone can provide lasting benefits. Researchers randomized 101 outpatients with irritable bowel syndrome to medical treatment or medical treatment with three months of psychotherapy. After three months, the psychotherapy group did better, and the difference was even more pronounced a year later, a year after the psychotherapy ended. Better at three months, and even better at 15 months, as you can see here and at 3:58 in my video.
Psychological approaches appear to work about as well as antidepressant drugs for IBS, but the placebo response for IBS is on the order of 40%, whether psychological interventions, drugs, or alternative medicine approaches. So, doing essentially nothing—taking a sugar pill—improves symptoms 40% of the time. In that case, I figure one might as well choose a therapy that’s cheap, safe, simple, and free of side effects, which extended fasting is most certainly not. But, if all else fails, it may be worth exploring fasting under close physician supervision.
Saffron is another spice found to be effective for treating a major cause of suffering—depression, in this study, with a side effect of decreased appetite. Indeed, when put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, saffron was found to lead to significant weight loss, five pounds more than placebo, and an extra inch off the waist in eight weeks. The dose of saffron used in the study was the equivalent of drinking a cup of tea made from a large pinch of saffron threads.
That also led to weight loss, but it didn’t do as well as the full saffron extract and only beat the placebo by two pounds and half an inch off the waist. The mechanism appeared to be appetite suppression, as the crocin group ended up averaging about 80 fewer calories a day, whereas the full saffron group consumed an average of 170 fewer daily calories, as you can see below and at 1:21 in my video.
A similar study looked specifically at snacking frequency. The researchers thought that the mood-boosting effects of saffron might cut down on stress-related eating. Indeed, eight weeks of a saffron extract halved snack intake, compared to a placebo. There was also a slight but statistically significant weight loss of about two pounds, as you can see here and at 1:41 in my video, which is pretty remarkable, given that tiny doses were utilized—about 100 milligrams, which is equivalent to about an eighth of a teaspoon of the spice.
The problem is that saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. It’s composed of delicate threads sticking out of the saffron crocus flower. Each flower produces only a few threads, so about 50,000 flowers are needed to make a single pound of spice. That’s enough flowers to cover a football field. So, that pinch of saffron could cost a dollar a day.
That’s why, in my 21 Tweaks to accelerate weight loss in How Not to Diet, I include black cumin, instead of saffron, as you can see here and at 2:30 in my video. And, at a quarter teaspoon a day, the daily dose of black cumin would only cost three cents.
What about just regular cumin? Used in cuisines around the world from Tex-Mex to South Asian, cumin is the second most popular spice on Earth after black pepper. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants with a range of purported medicinal uses, but only recently has it been put to the test for weight loss. Those randomized to a half teaspoon at both lunch and dinner over three months lost about four more pounds and an extra inch off their waist. The spice was found to be comparable to the obesity drug known as orlistat.
If you remember, orlistat is the “anal leakage” drug sold under the brand names Alli and Xenical. The drug company apparently prefers the term “faecal spotting” to describe the rectal discharge it causes, though. The drug company’s website offered some helpful tips, including: “It’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work.” You know, just in case their drug causes you to poop in your pants at the office.
I think I’ll stick with the cumin, thank you very much.
Place 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée, 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil, and 3 large eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and combined. Add 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and whisk to combine. Add 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and fold it in with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds, then gently press them into the batter to ensure they stick.
How can we use sensory-specific satiety to our advantage?
When we eat the same foods over and over, we become habituated to them and end up liking them less. That’s why the “10th bite of chocolate, for example, is desired less than the first bite.” We have a built-in biological drive to keep changing up our foods so we’ll be more likely to hit all our nutritional requirements. The drive is so powerful that even “imagined consumption reduces actual consumption.” When study participants imagined again and again that they were eating cheese and were then given actual cheese, they ate less of it than those who repeatedly imagined eating that food fewer times, imagined eating a different food (such as candy), or did not imagine eating the food at all.
Ironically, habituation may be one of the reasons fad “mono diets,” like the cabbage soup diet, the oatmeal diet, or meal replacement shakes, can actually result in better adherence and lower hunger ratings compared to less restrictive diets.
In the landmark study “A Satiety Index of Common Foods,” in which dozens of foods were put to the test, boiled potatoes were found to be the most satiating food. Two hundred and forty calories of boiled potatoes were found to be more satisfying in terms of quelling hunger than the same number of calories of any other food tested. In fact, no other food even came close, as you can see below and at 1:14 in my video Exploiting Sensory-Specific Satiety for Weight Loss.
No doubt the low calorie density of potatoes plays a role. In order to consume 240 calories, nearly one pound of potatoes must be eaten, compared to just a few cookies, and even more apples, grapes, and oranges must be consumed. Each fruit was about 40 percent less satiating than potatoes, though, as shown here and at 1:45 in my video. So, an all-potato diet would probably take the gold—the Yukon gold—for the most bland, monotonous, and satiating diet.
A mono diet, where only one food is eaten, is the poster child for unsustainability—and thank goodness for that. Over time, they can lead to serious nutrient deficiencies, such as blindness from vitamin A deficiency in the case of white potatoes.
The satiating power of potatoes can still be brought to bear, though. Boiled potatoes beat out rice and pasta in terms of a satiating side dish, cutting as many as about 200 calories of intake off a meal. Compared to boiled and mashed potatoes, fried french fries or even baked fries do not appear to have the same satiating impact.
To exploit habituation for weight loss while maintaining nutrient abundance, we could limit the variety of unhealthy foods we eat while expanding the variety of healthy foods. In that way, we can simultaneously take advantage of the appetite-suppressing effects of monotony while diversifying our fruit and vegetable portfolio. Studies have shown that a greater variety of calorie-dense foods, like sweets and snacks, is associated with excess body fat, but a greater variety of vegetables appears protective. When presented with a greater variety of fruit, offered a greater variety of vegetables, or given a greater variety of vegetable seasonings, people may consume a greater quantity, crowding out less healthy options.
The first 20 years of the official Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended generally eating “a variety of foods.” In the new millennium, they started getting more precise, specifying a diversity of healthier foods, as seen below and at 3:30 in my video.
A pair of Harvard and New York University dietitians concluded in their paper “Dietary Variety: An Overlooked Strategy for Obesity and Chronic Disease Control”: “Choose and prepare a greater variety of plant-based foods,” recognizing that a greater variety of less healthy options could be counterproductive.
So, how can we respond to industry attempts to lure us into temptation by turning our natural biological drives against us? Should we never eat really delicious food? No, but it may help to recognize the effects hyperpalatable foods can have on hijacking our appetites and undermining our body’s better judgment. We can also use some of those same primitive impulses to our advantage by minimizing our choices of the bad and diversifying our choices of the good. In How Not to Diet, I call this “Meatball Monotony and Veggie Variety.” Try picking out a new fruit or vegetable every time you shop.
In my own family’s home, we always have a wide array of healthy snacks on hand to entice the finickiest of tastes. The contrasting collage of colors and shapes in fruit baskets and vegetable platters beat out boring bowls of a single fruit because they make you want to mix it up and try a little of each. And with different healthy dipping sauces, the possibilities are endless.
For three cents a day, black cumin may improve our cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar control, as well as accelerate the loss of body fat.
Black cumin, also known as Nigella sativa or simply “black seed,” is not related to cumin; it’s a member of the buttercup family rather than the carrot family. Black cumin, with its peppery flavor, is a spice commonly used in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines, but it’s also been prized for its purported medicinal benefits. Described as “a miracle herb,” with mentions going back to the Old Testament, it was found cached in King Tut’s tomb, and it’s been reported that the “Islamic prophet Muhammad once stated that the black seed can heal every disease except death.” Only in the last 50 years or so has it been put to the test, though, culminating in more than a thousand papers published in the medical literature.
Typical doses used in studies are one or two grams a day, which is only about a quarter teaspoon. This enables researchers to perform randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials by putting the whole-food spice powder into capsules rather than studying a component or extract.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trials found that daily black cumin consumption significantly improves cholesterol and triglycerides. Researchers also found that it not only improves blood pressure, but it also improves blood sugar control. Some of the results are quite extraordinary. For example, one study found that postmenopausal women randomized to a gram a day (less than a quarter teaspoon) of black cumin powder reduced their LDL cholesterol by 27 percent within two months, significantly better than placebo. Those are the kinds of results we’d expect from a statin drug, yet it was achieved with just a sprinkle’s worth of a simple spice. Black cumin may also help with menopausal symptoms.
Now, it doesn’t appear to cure anything—a month after stopping the spice, cholesterol levels began to creep back up, for instance, as you can see below and at 2:00 in my video Benefits of Black Cumin Seed (Nigella Sativa) for Weight Loss—but it does appear to be a cheap, safe, effective, and delicious (if you like spice) treatment for some of our deadliest risk factors. And its side effects include loss of appetite and weight loss!
The latest systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled weight-loss trials found that about a quarter teaspoon of black cumin powder a day does appear to cause weight loss within a span of a few months. If it really can benefit so many facets of health, why don’t we hear more about it? Why wasn’t I taught about it in medical school? Maybe because there’s little profit motive. Black cumin is just a common, natural spice. The daily dose used in most of these studies would cost about three cents a day. Stockholders won’t be thrilled to sell something that can’t be patented and costs only three pennies a day. Black cumin has become a staple in my family’s daily diet. I keep a pepper mill filled with it right on the kitchen table and grind it onto foods just as I would black pepper—easy and delicious.
The perfect combination of sweet and spicy, ginger is a unique flavour that I just can’t get enough of. Whether you want to recreate the spiciness of ginger ale from your childhood or want freshly grated ginger for delicious curry, you can easily grow ginger in the garden or in the home. This guide covers everything you need to know about how to grow ginger so you can have an endless supply of the favoured spice.
Photo courtesy of Tasha Greer
One of the best things about sharing my love of gardening online is that I get to meet so many fellow gardeners! Over on Instagram, I met with the lovely Tasha Greer from Simplestead and we chatted over Instagram live about her book, Grow Your Own Spices. After the talk, I was completely obsessed with the idea of growing ginger!
I’m not a huge spice grower, instead opting to grow mostly herbs and other healing plants. But I invited Tasha to talk about ginger with me, and she gave me some great advice if you’re thinking of adding some spice to your garden.
This guide covers points and tips on how to grow ginger root directly from Tasha’s book. In it, she covers more than 30 different spices anyone can grow. Be sure to check out Grow Your Own Spices if you’re interested in growing tons of spices.
We all love it, but what is this funky, wrinkly thing we like to grate? Ginger, Zingiber officinale, is a plant grown mostly for its rhizome, although technically, the whole plant is edible.
Mostly used for culinary purposes, it has a spicy yet sweet taste. You can find it in curries, in baking like gingerbread, as a spicy zest to salad dressings, and in some very popular beverages.
Medicinal Properties of Ginger
Gingerols are the active components in the plant that give it a distinct spicy/sweet flavour. The components are also responsible for the anti-inflammatory properties and are even used to treat arthritis.
Medicinally, people know ginger best for easing an upset stomach. The virucidal properties aid in destroying viruses, making it a useful tool for your medicine cabinet,
“The most effective way to receive this medicine is through the use of its fresh juice,” says Tasha.
The easiest way to do this is to process the root with a juicer. Then, place the liquid in ice cube trays, and store it in the freezer to have an easily accessible antiviral remedy on hand. Add water, honey, and a squeeze of lemon to cut the spiciness as needed.
Remove the skin prior to using ginger.
How to Grow Ginger
Growing ginger differs a little differently than the average plant since we’re growing it from a rhizome rather than a seed. Here’s what you need to know!
Choosing a Rhizome
The easiest way to grow ginger is by taking a piece of rhizome from existing ginger to grow another. Sounds easy right? To get the best possible ginger harvest out there, the key is to select the right rhizome to get you started.
You probably would recognize ginger just by its touch. They are firm, knotty-looking rhizomes that have rough skin. Most of the ginger you find in the grocery store are Chinese cultivars. The flavour tends to be milder, and it will have a thicker skin to help with shelf life.
Technically, you can plant any ginger as long as it isn’t old or diseased. It’s worth noting that ginger purchased from the grocery store may have a growth inhibitor sprayed on it to stop it from sprouting early. Ideally, you want to source your ginger from an organic grower or your local farmer’s market.
Avoid any pieces that look shrivelled and dry. You want a plump piece of ginger with lots of eyes (growth buds). It should be 4-6 inches long with multiple arms.
Here’s Tasha’s advice for choosing a rhizome:
“Mature rhizomes that have been through natural senescence will produce the best yields. Senescence typically happens in fall after plants have had a long growing season.” Senescence is the life stage in which a plant’s metabolism slows before it dies.
Baby ginger rhizome. Photo courtesy of Tasha Greer
Planting
Most gardeners choose to start their ginger indoors and then transplant it outside as it warms up. Once you have your rhizome, pay attention to where the eyes are. If you have post-senescence ginger ready to go without eyes, store it in a warm location until the eyes appear.
Cut the ginger into pieces approximately 1 to 1 ½ inch wide. Each of the pieces will need an eye. Once cut, let it sit for 1-2 days until a slight crust has formed.
When planting, fill a pot with good quality potting soil until it is 2 inches from the top. Add in some slow-release fertilizer and place your rhizome in it approximately 1 inch deep,healthy eyes facing upwards.
Top off with some compost. Space any rhizomes 12 inches apart. It will grow up to 4 feet tall, so be sure to accommodate this type of growth.
Water the plant well and keep moist until shoots have emerged. This takes anywhere from 1 week to 1 month. Ginger prefers filtered light, not direct light. Under a tree where it will receive dappled light is a great spot to have it.
The plant can only survive when there is no frost. It can be planted in early spring after the danger of frost has passed or any time of year if you live in a warmer zone. A tropical plant, ginger likes heat and humidity. It will grow best in temperatures above 65°F or 18°C.
Tasha’s advice? Here’s what she has to say!
“When growing in the ground, periodically hill the soil from the outer edges of your rows around the root area to encourage the rhizomes to plump. Stop fertilizing if plants flower.”
Start your ginger in containers. Photo courtesy of Tasha Greer
How to Grow Ginger Indoors
You can easily grow ginger indoors, too! All you need is your leftover scrap or cut piece of ginger to get it started. Soak the rhizome overnight just in case it has a growth inhibitor, especially if you sourced it from a market.
In a pot, follow the same planting instructions as above. The pot needs to be large enough to accommodate the size of the rhizomes as they grow.It should also drain well, as ginger is prone to root rot if it sits in soggy soil.
When planting, only place one piece of ginger in each pot. Let it sit in indirect light in a warm part of the house. Watch and wait!
How to Harvest Ginger
Remember senescence? This is when the plant begins to slow down before it dies. The leaves will start to turn yellow and brown. This usually occurs when the plant gets less sunlight, and it cools down, signalling the ginger to grow more rhizomes to begin to store energy for the colder season. This is also when the rhizomes grow their protective skin. And you guessed it…it’s when we’re ready to harvest!
Ginger takes some time to grow. Baby ginger can be harvested after 6-8 months. You want to harvest the ginger before it reaches senescence. Mature ginger, on the other hand, takes more than 10 months and you want to harvest after senescence has occurred. Be sure to save the best rhizome (fat and healthy-looking) to use for future planting.
Tasha says you can also trick the ginger into an early harvest. “To initiate premature senescence, cut the top few inches of leaves to reduce photosynthesis. Then harvest in 2–3 weeks.”
When harvesting, you can dig out and use the whole rhizome. Alternatively, you can cut away a piece of the rhizome if the plant is still growing. In this case, cut a piece that is at least 2 inches from the stock. The rest of the plant will continue to grow.
Now that you know how to grow ginger at home and harvest it, it’s time to enjoy it. Be sure to check out my recipe for homemade ginger ale. It tastes so much better than the canned stuff!
FAQ About Growing Ginger Plants
Where does ginger come from?
Interestingly enough, we have no idea where ginger originally comes from. According to Tasha, “It’s considered a cultigen, or a plant that exists as a result of human cultivation. We don’t know its origin or when humans started using it. We only know that it would not exist without us.”
How long does it take to grow ginger?
Mature ginger takes about ten months to harvest after planting. You can have baby ginger after 6-8 months.
Can you grow ginger from a piece of ginger?
Yes, and this is the fastest way to do it. Choose a plump and healthy looking rhizome to start. Cut it up into pieces that are about 1 to 1 ½ inches big. Make sure each piece has an eye (the little growth bumps). Let it sit for 1-2 days until a slight crust has formed, then it’s ready to be planted.
This Mexicali Seasoning is a robust spice blend of cilantro, chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, cilantro, oregano, and both garlic and onion powder. Use with beef, chicken, pork, seafood and vegetables!
I have another seasoning blend for you to try. Are you excited? I’m excited.
I love when I can add a new spice blend to my ever-growing list of spice and seasoning blends. So far this Mexicali seasoning makes over twenty spice blends recipes! Can you even??
I should seriously consider starting my own line of spice blends.
For this Mexicali Seasoning blend, you will need:
dried cilantro
chili powder
chipotle powder
cumin
kosher salt
oregano
paprika
garlic
onion powder
Into a glass jar measure out 2 tablespoons dried cilantro*, 2 tablespoons chili powder and 1 tablespoon ground cumin. Then add 2 teaspoons chipotle powder, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, and 1 teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder.
*If you don’t have the dried cilantro, you could also use always just use fresh cilantro in the dish you are preparing (not the spice mix).
Then stir and store in an air-tight container in a dark, dry area for months.
How To Use Mexicali Seasoning:
The flavor of these spice blend is robust and a smidgen smoky but overall it’s delicious and versatile. I have a recipe I’m super excited to share with you tomorrow, where I used this flavorful Mexicali seasoning. I’m also adding it to ground turkey when I make tacos this weekend. However you can totally use this seasoning on beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or vegetables. Or try one of the following recipes!
Enjoy! And if you give this Mexicali Seasoning recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Yield: 8servings
Mexicali Seasoning
This Mexicali Seasoning is a robust spice blend of cilantro, chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, cilantro, oregano, and both garlic and onion powder. Use with beef, chicken, pork, seafood and vegetables!
Prep Time: 5 minutesmins
Total Time: 5 minutesmins
2tablespoonsdried cilantro
2tablespoonschili powder
1tablespoonground cumin
2teaspoonsground chipotle powder
2teaspoonskosher salt
2teaspoonspaprika
1½teaspoonsdried Mexican oregano
1teaspoongarlic powder
1teaspoononion powder
Nutrition Disclaimer:All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on SimplyScratch.com should only be used as a general guideline. Note: If you can’t find dried cilantro leaves, you could use fresh cilantro in the dish you’re preparing (DO NOT use fresh cilantro in the spice mix).
See what a penny a day’s worth of garlic powder can do.
In ancient Greece, “the Art of Medicine was divided into three parts”: cures through diet, cures through drugs, and cures through surgery. Garlic, Hippocrates wrote, was one such medicinal food, but that was to treat a nonexistent entity called “displacement of the womb,” so ancient wisdom can only go so far.
Those who eat more than a clove of garlic a day do seem to have better artery function than those who eat less than that, but you don’t know if it’s cause-and-effect until you put it to the test.
As I discuss in my video Benefits of Garlic Powder for Heart Disease, heart disease patients were randomized to receive either garlic powder or placebo tablets two times a day for three months. Those lucky enough to be in the garlic group got a significant boost in their artery function—a 50 percent increase in function from taking only 800 mg of garlic powder a day. That’s just a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder. A 50 percent increase in artery function for less than a penny daily!
If regular, plain old garlic powder can do that, what about those fancy Kyolic® aged garlic extract supplements? They can be 30 times more expensive and don’t work at all. After four weeks, there was zero significant improvement. It’s hard to improve on Mother Nature.
Garlic powder can improve the function of our arteries, but what about the structure of our arteries? Dozens of studies on garlic all compiled together show that garlic can reduce cholesterol levels in the blood by more than 16 points. So, might garlic powder actually be able to slow the progression of atherosclerosis? Researchers studied a garlic powder tablet versus a placebo for three months. As you can see below and at 1:42 in my video, the placebo group got worse, which is what tends to happen. Eat the same artery-clogging diet, and your arteries continue to clog. However, the progression of the disease appeared to slow and even stall in the garlic group.
Of course, it would be nice to see the thickening of the artery wall reverse, but, for that, one might have to add more plants than just garlic to one’s diet. Still, though, that same quarter teaspoon of a simple spice available everywhere may be considered as an adjunct treatment for atherosclerosis, the number one killer of both men and women in the United States and around much of the world.
What about garlic for high blood pressure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials “demonstrated that garlic has a statistically significant and clinically meaningful effect” on both systolic and diastolic blood pressures, reducing the top number by nearly seven and the bottom number by about five. That may not sound like a lot, but reducing diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by five points can reduce the risk of stroke by about a third and heart disease by 25 percent, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:38 in my video.
“Plant-based medicine provides beneficial effects, alongside with only minimal or no complications”—that is, little or no side effects—“and compared to other medicine are relatively cost-effective.” I’d say so, at as little as a penny per day.
It’s winter in Brooklyn (at last). Crackly, ice-sheeted sidewalks mean baked apples, perfumed with fir sugar and cinnamon, slicked with a little maple syrup, dabbed with butter, and braced by lemon juice.
I grew up with baked apples. They were a regular winter treat in the cold center of South Africa, where my mom baked them in the same Pyrex dish that held, on rainy days, rolled-up, snuggled, cinnamon-scented crêpes. The apples came to the table molten. Wisps of escaping steam were a warning my father never heeded. He’d take a typically confident mouthful and shout, “They’re hot,” in wounded surprise. They are hot. Straight from the oven, the tender, fruit-filled baked apples seethe with heat. The trick is to wait. Let them settle for five minutes before serving. While they do, their delicious cooking juices turn to golden jelly. Then, they are ready for your spoon, and for a soothing cloud of whipped cream.
Here’s how to bake them whole. They can be a nourishing snack for one, or a rustically sumptuous dessert for six.
Above: Pillowy and tender, spiced baked apples are instant comfort. Above: Local apples are in season from fall (fresh-picked) through spring (stored).
The aroma rising from a dish of baked apples is instant comfort. Their flavor and fluffiness feed our feelings in a healthier way than many comfort foods can. Apple skin and dried fruits are packed with fiber, as well as (depending on the dried fruit you choose as a filling) minerals—like iron and antioxidants—in raisins and dried figs and plums, especially. Even cinnamon is a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
And apples are in season for a long, long time.
If you live in an apple-growing region, local farmers markets offer a much broader selection of apples than many supermarkets do. Regardless of source, some apples are better for baking whole than others, holding their shape through an hour of oven heat. Still, even an imploded pome tastes pretty good; it’s just better as a midnight snack than the showpiece after dinner.
Above: Macoun apples are excellent for baking, as they stay intact during baking.
Above: Sweetly tart Braeburn apples hold their shape well.
Some of the best apples for baking are Braeburn, Cortland, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Winesap. Yes, sometimes an apple may split in the slow heat of the oven, but there is something very appealing in that rupture. The contrast of caramelized skin and tender flesh is seductive.
Above: Pink Lady apples are lightly tart after baking. Above: Making the case for an apple corer?
There is only one fiddly aspect to stuffing and baking apples whole: removing the core. My mother used an apple corer, and I’m beginning to see its appeal. I use a skinny, sharp knife, slicing down and around, and wiggling out the apple’s seedy, fibrous heart.
The Kitchn received compensation for this post, which was written and edited independently by our editorial team.
I’m no expert, but let’s be real — a touch of the right seasoning can turn any basic dish into something ah-maz-ing. Spices are cooking essentials everyone should have on hand. After all, who wouldn’t want to boost their meals with a simple pinch of flavor? With so many options at the supermarket, the seasoning aisle can be overwhelming. But don’t worry: We’ve got you covered with all the seasonings you absolutely should have in your cabinet.
We’ve highlighted our top picks from Savory Spice — a retail spice store created by two avid home cooks — so you won’t feel lost again. Whether you’re a pro in the kitchen or just starting out, these choices will become your go-to spices for adding that extra something to your dishes. Get ready to treat your taste buds with our top spice picks from Savory Spice. They’re about to make your meals way more exciting!
Psst … the brand’s having sales through the end of the year so that you can start the new year on a delicious (and affordable!) note.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
In my house, seasoning is always a huge part of any meal. And, while I can always count on the tried-and-true spices I grew up with and keep in my spice cabinet at all times (garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, crushed red pepper, sazón, and Italian seasoning, to name a few) I love trying out new ones and cooking with new flavors. Unfortunately, you can exhaust your average supermarket’s spice selection pretty quickly, and sometimes, finding a particular spice or herb can be difficult, depending on where you live and what markets you have access to. Thankfully, there are a ton of great online spice shops that let you bring flavors and aromas from all over the world right into your kitchen at home. I recently got the opportunity to try out some spices from Vân Vân, an online purveyor of single-origin spices and herbs sourced from different growing regions around Vietnam, and I can’t stop raving about it.
Started in the summer of 2022 by founders Thảo and Duy — who have a background running popular cooking pop-ups and pick-ups — Vân Vân has a foundation rooted in Vietnamese home cooking, history, and culture, with a mission to “invest in local growers and support their livelihoods by paying a fair price for their products,” according to their website. By partnering with small growers, the brand aims to put premium Vietnamese products on center stage and showcase the country’s diverse flavors. Vân Vân offers a collection of unique herbs and spices that are available a la carte or as bundles. (They have some pretty cool merch, too.)
I live in New York City, and even with access to tons of high-quality markets around town, it’s tough to find many of these spices in my local supermarket, and even if I could, the fresh versions would probably go bad before I could use them all. The best part about Vân Vân is that the spices and herbs come dehydrated, so when you want to use them, you can just soak them in water for a minute or two and they’re good to go! The Bundle of Flavors collection (which I tested) includes Northern Mountain Garlic, Delta Lemongrass, Sparrow Ginger, Coastal purple shallot, and Heaven Facing Chili. Besides being delicious additions to my spice cabinet, they’re also fairly priced, and I can feel good about supporting small businesses when I order them — rather than buying spices of questionable origin from some mysterious grocery store spice giant. And, while you can cook meals and make cocktails based around the spices themselves from the recipe bank on their website, you can also just add these spices to your regular weeknight meals. Being able to cook with high-quality spices that I’d usually have to go to a restaurant to taste has been great, and it makes my weeknight meals so much more interesting and fun to eat.
I’m also not the only one who digs the spice shop. “I bought the bundle of flavors so I could try them all!” one reviewer wrote, “They are so convenient to have around, I find fresh lemongrass hard to find in my local supermarkets, so to have it on hand is so convenient, same with all the other spices. Secondly, the flavor is phenomenal. I find myself gravitating towards the smaller garlic, the lemongrass, and the chilis the most when I’m cooking. The chilis have some good heat!” So, if you’re looking to, er, spice up your weeknight meals or try some new and exciting recipes, give Vân Vân a try ASAP — especially while it’s on sale.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Well, the cold weather is finally here, and instead of bar hopping and lounging in the park, these days, it’s pretty tempting to plop down on the couch, put on some Netflix, and have a cozy movie night at home. (Plus, there’s nothing quite like the rush of canceling plans — IYKYK.) However, in my house, when we do movie nights, we do them the right way. I’m talking about a big dinner, beers, mood lighting, snacks, and — of course — hot chocolate and popcorn. After all, getting to loaf around in sweatpants, pause the movie whenever you want, and indulge in a variety of snacks are what makes viewing from the comfort of the couch so much superior to heading to the theater, IMO. And recently, my girlfriend and I have been enjoying two delicious pantry items on movie nights that have taken our at-home movie nights to the next level: the Hot Cocoa Bundle and Jalapeño Ranch Popcorn Seasoning from Savory Spice.
What Are the Hot Cocoa Bundle and Jalapeño Ranch Popcorn Seasoning?
If you’re looking to make the ultimate cup of hot chocolate this winter, look no further than the Hot Cocoa Bundle. It comes with everything you need — except a festive mug — including Dutch Cocoa Powder, Cinnamon Sugar, and Peppermint Vanilla Bean Sugar. Just add hot milk or water to the cocoa powder in a ratio of your choosing, and sprinkle some sugar in your drink (or you can line the rim of your mug!) and you’re good to go. To enjoy the Jalapeño Ranch Popcorn Seasoning, just make a bowl of popcorn like you normally would, season it to your liking, and give the bowl a solid toss. That way, you don’t have to rely on pre-seasoned popcorn to get the exact level of flavor you’re looking for.
Why I Love the Hot Cocoa Bundle and Jalapeño Ranch Popcorn Seasoning
Look, while I love Swiss Miss, Dutch Cocoa Powder is such a step up, and it really blows your average grocery store hot chocolate out of the water. And, as someone who doesn’t love sweets, it takes a lot for me to come around to chocolate-based products, but during the colder months of the year, I can’t seem to get enough. As for the popcorn seasoning, I mean, who doesn’t love all things ranch? You can definitely enjoy this on your popcorn — which I highly recommend — but you can also top off plenty of other snacks with the seasoning, including fries and side dishes. Plus, you can add the jalapeño ranch powder to sour cream to make a delicious party dip. And, though they don’t come in a bundle, buying both is a great way to ensure that your movie nights (or your loved ones’ movie nights) are perfect every time.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
During fall, pumpkin spice-flavored treats make their appearance just about, well, everywhere. But do you even know what’s in it? Here’s what it is and why you should make it at home. (Hint: It’s as easy as it gets!)
Is There Actually Pumpkin in Pumpkin Spice?
For years, I thought pumpkin pie spice really had pumpkin in it. But there’s no actual pumpkin in pumpkin pie spice. It’s simply a blend of the traditional spices that go into a good ol’ fashioned pumpkin pie.
Read more: Pumpkin Spice Is Not Actually What Pumpkin Tastes Like
What’s in Pumpkin Pie Spice?
If you go the store-bought route, pumpkin pie spice blends can vary by manufacturer, but typically contain the more sweet-smelling spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. Allspice and mace are also common ingredients.
What’s the Best Ratio of Spices?
The most classic blend puts cinnamon front and center, with slightly less ginger and just a pinch of allspice, cloves, mace, and nutmeg. But making the blend from scratch means you get to choose the ratio!
Go for some extra ginger, or skip the cloves if you can’t stand the flavor. Trust me, once you’ve made your own, you’ll never want to buy a commercial blend again.
Why Should I Make My Own?
In addition to being able to customize it to your liking, making your own spice blend costs less than buying a big jar of something pre-made, especially if you already have most of the spices. It’s also better to make smaller batches so you use up the blend before it starts to go stale and loses its flavor.
How Do I Use Pumpkin Pie Spice?
While you can use it to flavor your morning latte, pies, and other baked goods, you can also sprinkle it over hard squash before roasting, spice up some whipped cream, or mix it into some yogurt or ice cream base — it’s quite a versatile spice blend.
For reference, 2½ ounces (about ½ cup) of dried sumac drupes will create 3 tablespoons of ground sumac. Most recipes will call for at least 1 tablespoon.
To dry sumac, you can either leave your clusters whole, or pick off all the fresh, ripe drupes from the clusters. After years of collecting, I now favor the former method: It’s easier, and less precious juice is wasted on your fingers. Either way, spread the fruit out on a parchment-lined surface and leave out at room temperature until dry (from 3 to 7 days, if the humidity is low).
Transfer the dried drupes in batches to a spice grinder and grind for a few seconds. When you notice the pale seeds revealed, test by sifting some through a single-mesh strainer (double mesh is too fine). If the sour pericarp is sifting through, leaving behind the hard flavorless seed, you’re good to go. If it is still too bulky, grind some more. Sift in batches, returning the leftover pieces to the grinder and sifting again.
(If some of the seeds have been chewed up more finely by the grinder and sift through, they won’t hurt you—they’re just tasteless.)
Once the sumac has all been sifted, transfer to small, airtight containers. Keep one for immediate use and freeze any extra.
Above: Sumac shortbread crackers.
Buttery Sumac Shortbread Crackers
Makes about 40 crackers
These crackers are of the melt-in-the-mouth variety. Embrace the butter. (They evolved one day from the pastry trimmings left over after making mushroom hand pies.)
4 oz plus 3 Tablespoons butter, very cold
½ teaspoon salt
5 oz all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the rolling surface
3 Tablespoons Half and Half
1 Tablespoon ground sumac
1 Tablespoons dried mugwort flowers (optional)
Combine the flour and salt in a bowl*. Using the coarse side of box grater, grate the cold butter into the flour (no grater? Cut it into small cubes). Toss some flour into the butter-mound to help prevent clumping, and then work the butter and flour between your fingertips until the mixture resembles evenly coarse sand. Pour in the Half and Half and work with a wooden spoon a few times. Bring the pastry together with your hands, taking care to use as few motions as possible. (All of this can be done in a food processor, too; just don’t overwork it, or the crackers become tough.)
Form the pastry into a fat disc. Wrap it and chill until solid (at least an hour and as long as 24), or freeze for later use.
Preheat the oven to 375’F.
Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out one pastry disc to about 1/8-inch. Sprinkle half the sumac and half the optional mugwort across the surface and pass the rolling over the pastry two more times to press in the seasoning/s.
Using a wheeled pastry cutter or a knife cut the pastry into ribbons about 2 inches wide. Cut across those ribbons to make the short side around 1.5 inches (or go wild and make any size you like!). You can also press out individual crackers, using a cookie cutter, but it’s more time-consuming and creates more trimmings. Transfer the cut crackers to a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
Slide the chilled crackers into the hot oven and bake for about 15 minutes, removing the tray the minute the edges of the crackers turn deep golden. Immediately, sprinkle the remaining sumac and mugwort, if using, over the hot crackers. Cool on wire racks.
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