As a tropical herb, harvesting turmeric (Curcuma longa) likes warm climate and humidity, growing best outdoors  Agriculture plant. In cooler regions, produce the plants in containers so you can bring them inside for the winter. Turmeric is best known for its punget yellow zest that comes from the rhizomes, but the flowers and leaves are also edible. Its tall, green leaves and showy flowers that cultivate on spikes are evocative of turmeric’s ginger family Zingiberaceae and bring tropical beauty to the garden or home.

Timing It

Before harvesting turmeric, you must plant it at the correct time. Turmeric takes eight to 10 months to develop, and it develops best in warm weather. Planting it in the fall is best. For example, if you plant it in October, the rhizomes can be prepared for harvest as early as June in hot weather, though it could be August before the plant completely matures.

Patience

An appeal of several herbs is the capability to pick from the plants and enjoy fresh herbs all year, or at least during the producing season. Though with turmeric, you must wait and yield from all your turmeric plants at the similar time and only once a year. In its place guessing for the right time, wait till you see the flowers fade and the leaves begin to yellow before you harvest the rhizomes.

Harvest Day Arrives

When it’s time to harvest the turmeric rhizomes, cut off the tops of the plants with clippers to make reaping easier — this isn’t essential, however it allows you to get to the underground rhizomes without having to dodge the large leaves. Water the area carefully to soften the ground, and then dig up the rhizomes using a trowel. Every plant should have a small handful of rhizomes. Set a few aside to plant in the fall, and usage the rest in your kitchen.

Enjoying Year-Round

Fresh turmeric doesn’t have a long ledge life — it generally lasts about one to two weeks in the refrigerator. Freezing it tempers the flavour some, but it permits you to have fresh turmeric on demand. Rinse and peel the rhizomes, then put them in freezer bags. When you require a blast of turmeric flavour for your recipes, pull out a rhizome and grate it with a microplaner; it grilles easily when refrigerated or frozen, without the want to thaw the spice.