wrote:
On Dec 14, 11:33 pm, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:

Never had much luck with bay, tried it from bedding plants a couple times. But I got the impression that it would make a pretty healthy woody stalk if it would just grow for me. The other one that seems to hate this location is cumin.

Like Shawn said, try a laurel, or bay laurel plant. I got mine as an
old ugly one for $4 in a 5 gallon pot at the nursery at the end of
their season a few years ago. It is still in the pot, and you can't
kill it. It has survived our 100+ degree summers, our droughts, and
even two ice storms last year. It is a pretty plant, and likes its
pot, and makes more bay than I can use.

You know, I never thought about growing cumin. Around here so many
Mexican/latin dishes use it, that I always have on hand. Have you
actually harvested and ground the seeds before? THAT seems like a lot
of work.

I tried that growing coriander. Chinese parsley (from one species or
another) is used as celantro around here in South Texas. But when it
goes to seed, it makes a little round ball, and is the seeds are
called coriander. I like both, the bite of fresh celantro in sauces
and on tacos, and the perfume of toasted coriander on pork.

But getting those damn seeds and drying them was a pain. And then
getting enough to do anything with was worse. The Chinese market has
them fresh and cheap, so I eat the celatro and buy the coriander.

Don't know how many seeds it would take to make a bottle of ground
cumin up...

Robert

Idea, dig up the roots, and clean and dry them. Better flavor than the
seeds. At the end of the season, harvest the roots.

wrote
Like Shawn said, try a laurel, or bay laurel plant. I got mine as an
old ugly one for $4 in a 5 gallon pot at the nursery at the end of
their season a few years ago. It is still in the pot, and you can't
kill it. It has survived our 100+ degree summers, our droughts, and
even two ice storms last year. It is a pretty plant, and likes its
pot, and makes more bay than I can use.

You know, I never thought about growing cumin. Around here so many
Mexican/latin dishes use it, that I always have on hand. Have you
actually harvested and ground the seeds before? THAT seems like a lot
of work.

Comino (cumin) just doesn't want to grow for me around here. I use tons of
it in my sauces and seasonings and I buy whole comino seed by the pound from
Planter's Seed Co. in KCMO. (see below)

I tried that growing coriander. Chinese parsley (from one species or
another) is used as celantro around here in South Texas. But when it
goes to seed, it makes a little round ball, and is the seeds are
called coriander. I like both, the bite of fresh celantro in sauces
and on tacos, and the perfume of toasted coriander on pork.

Coriander likes cool weather, and bolts very easily. So if you start it in
warm weather, it never gets very large before it bolts and makes just a few
seeds. It can even take a bit of frost so I start it real early and keep
trimming it to get fresh cilantro, which makes it branch with each trimming.
Then when it bolts there are lots of coriander seeds on the many branches.
To stay in fresh cilantro in the summer, new plants need to be started every
couple of weeks, but when its really hot they bolt almost instantly. I use a
lot of coriander too, year round, so I don't worry too much about trying to
harvest the coriander seeds, I buy them whole by the pound too. But the ones
grown at home are the most flavorful of all.

But getting those damn seeds and drying them was a pain. And then
getting enough to do anything with was worse. The Chinese market has
them fresh and cheap, so I eat the celatro and buy the coriander.

Just wait till the whole plant goes to seed, pull it up, and hang it upside
down outside till the coriander seeds are dry. Note that dried cilantro
leaves are almost flavorless and pretty much useless.

Don't know how many seeds it would take to make a bottle of ground
cumin up...

How big a bottle? g I grind cumin and coriander both, usually toasting
about 1-2 cups at a time, and grinding them in batches in coffee grinders.
(I have four, three of which never grind coffee.) It usually takes me 3-4
batches. Don't overfill the grinders and take special care with the
coriander to make sure its well pulverized, otherwise unground seed husks
will mess up the texture of whatever you are making. Both these spices in
particular will benefit greatly from being toasted in a skillet over medium
heat till they barely start to brown and become fragrant. Don't let them
burn or they turn bitter. Let them cool just enough to handle, and grind
away. The aroma of the freshly ground warm comino is mind-altering.

Toasting and grinding them yourself gives far better flavor than buying it
already ground. Once ground up they start losing flavor potency. Most seed
and spice shops buy it from their big suppliers either ground or whole, and
very few grind their own because that requires a commercial food preparation
license. So the pre-ground stuff is somewhat stale by the time it gets to
you, even from most shops that import their own. The worst are the
pre-ground spices and herbs at grocers, regardless of brand. I don't buy any
spices or herbs already ground unless there is no other practical way, for
example, ground ginger. (But I freeze whole ginger root for asian cooking,
and just slice dimes off the root as needed for fresh ginger flavor.)

I forgot to mention earlier, but rosemary also yields some nice woody stalks
if it gets mature enough. I can now get rosemary varieties that are hardy
here for several seasons before some really severe freeze kills them off.
They give up some great woody stalks which also make some tasty smoke.

My favorite herb, spice, seed, and garden store on the entire planet:
http://plantersseed.com/
They have even more than is shown on the web page spice list. That includes
a couple interesting rubs not on the web page list, Applewood Smoke rub, and
Apple Rib Rub seasoning. The dry beef soup and french onion soup bases are
fun to experiment with in rubs. Ask them to fax or mail you the complete
list of seasonings, mixes, bases, and blends. They offer a big wholesale
discount on pound sizes and up if you have a tax ID #, and they also give
the discount to barbecue teams. If that is the case ask them for a wholesale
price list.

MartyB in KC

Nunya Bidnits wrote:

snip
I forgot to mention earlier, but rosemary also yields some nice woody stalks
if it gets mature enough. I can now get rosemary varieties that are hardy
here for several seasons before some really severe freeze kills them off.
They give up some great woody stalks which also make some tasty smoke.

Huh. Never thought of that. I've used the woody stalks as kabob
sticks, though.

My oldest rosemary plant made it through 5 winters. The sixth winter I
got all conscientious and raked away all the dead leaves and spent
foliage in the side garden and the poor thing croaked, probably due to
lack of insulation.