My Yellow Ginger Is Flowering!

After I had harvested my first round of yellow ginger or turmeric from the shallow pot in my garden, I re-planted the yellow ginger for the 2nd time. You can click here to read more about it in my previous post. That was in September last year (about a year ago). So far I have not seen any flower from any of my ginger plants, both the normal ginger nor the yellow ginger.

 Recently, I did some weeding in my garden. As I was pulling out some weeds near the yellow ginger plants, I spotted this! 

 A close up of the yellow ginger flower.

The yellow and white flowers are enclosed by light green bracts or leaves.

 If not for the weeding, I wouldn't notice the flower because it was hidden from my sight.

 This is my first time seeing a yellow ginger flower.

The whole plant including the flower is edible. The flower can be eaten as a veggie or eaten raw like salad. It is a very useful plant with its many medicinal benefits.

This is my 2nd harvest of the yellow ginger from my garden.

 Quite a good harvest from just a few small plants grown in a shallow pot.

 This is better compared to the first harvest. I have not decided what to do with these yet.

And these will be used to grow my 3rd round of yellow ginger.

Linking to Floral Bliss.

Now as for you,

dear brothers who are waiting for the Lord's return, be patient,

like a farmer who waits until the autumn for his precious harvest to ripen.

(James 5:7, The Living Bible-TLB)

Growing Yellow Ginger Or Turmeric In My Garden.

I started growing yellow ginger or tumeric plants because it is good to have the leaves available as a cooking ingredient anytime whenever it is needed. I usually need about 3 to 4 leaves only, It will be very convenient if I could get them from my garden without having to drive all the way to the main wet market in Ipoh for the leaves. It is especially so whenever I wanted to cook chicken or beef rendang (a Malay dish). Yellow ginger or turmeric is known as kunyit in Malay. 

I started with a few yellow ginger roots or rhizomes. I grow them in a shallow pot.

The shorter plants surrounding the yellow ginger plants are the common plantain. They are harvested for boiling herbal drink.

The fresh leaves are cut into fine strips and added to the rendang dish for its aroma. I took this photo under the hot sun, so the leaves are a bit curled up.

Most homes will have these useful yellow ginger plants growing in their backyard, garden or in pots.

I harvested the first batch of yellow ginger grown in a pot from my garden. Yellow ginger roots/rhizomes are used both in the fresh form or in dried powdered form as an ingredient in some Asian dishes. They are also used for their health or medicinal benefits which you can read about in the internet. 

These were from the first harvest. I used the pounded fresh roots/rhizomes to marinate cut chicken pieces or fishes for deep frying. Fresh or powdered form are also used for cooking yellow glutinous rice and meat curry dishes. When working with yellow ginger roots/rhizomes, it is better to wear gloves and careful of your clothes to prevent staining your hands and clothes.

But you must be careful not to brag about being put in

to replace the branches that were broken off.

Remember that you are important only because

you are now a part of God's tree;

you are just a branch, not a root.

(Romans 11:18, The Living Bible-TLB)