How many different spices (meaning roots & seeds, excludes the green leaves) can you grow to put in your pickled things?

I grow fennel, dill, coriander, mustard, Peppers, especially tabasco and cayennes to add dried to pickling spices. I also have horseradish, garlic, a few onions.. then there are the milder peppers to add to Bread and butter pickles.. Did I mention Garlic???

If you read my post about that "Joy of Pickling" book.. I am really happy about the number of pickling spices I grow on my own.

I don't think I can do Allspice, Tumeric, Cloves, Cinnamon, or Nutmeg in Zone 6. But I was happy to find that a lot of herbs and spices for pickling.. I have been growing right here for years..

I know that the first year I made Bread and Butter pickles.. (then co workers wanted them in mass) I was growing mustard and I didn't have to buy mustard seed. I just harvested the mustard that had gone to seed..

Tell US your stories of growing your own spices!

I will add that at the Master Gardener's meeting tonight.. a woman who is from India.. doesn't grow any spices.. but gets a lot of the really spicey stuff from India at little ot no cost.. so we are going to get together..

She wants to see what I grow.

One of the Master Gardeners brought seedlings of "Indian Mustard" which this woman from India said was what she was used to.. So I brought about 7-8 of those plants home and planted them tonight.. I hope they get big.. go to seed and reproduce...

I am in zone 5. Where do you buy plants/seeds for planting these spices? For, instance, mustard? Sounds awesome!

I would love to try Garlic but it sounds incredibly complicated to this very beginner!
Where should I start?

Jeanna

I wonder how other seeds from the mustard family taste, ground up? All of the seeds I plant (kohlrabi, bok choy, napa, cabbage, kale, komatsuna, and others) look like black mustard seeds - I don't think I've ever planted any white seeds. I really don't let them go to seed, except by accident, but it would be worth trying. However, if there was something super hot or flavorful out there, somebody would have found it by now!

I never grew my own coriander seed, but it would be better for me to grow than cilantro, since it bolts in no time! However, to get a maximum amount of seeds, a large plant is needed, so this really wouldn't work well.

I have tried turmeric and galangal in sand, with no luck. They have VERY long seasons, I read, though I was set to bring them in, but got no sprouts, so it never came to this. Speaking of galangal, this is something I am going to try in pickles, due to it's unusual and spicy flavor. Kaffir lime leaves I have also tried in pickling (partly due to the fact that I have so many!), but I have to do some more experimenting with those, as I under seasoned, since I was afraid of overpowering with them.

Bay leaves are another thing that are incredibly stronger fresh, and even home dried they are much stronger, and are very often used in pickles.

As you noted, most of those spices really can't be grown by us, as they are tropical plants. Also, many involve a lot of labor - would you really want to climb a 30-60 ft. tree everyday, to pick the unopened flower buds at just the right stage, to get the small amount of cloves you use? lol

Dave

Oh Dave.. you crack me up.. I have got to get my e-mail straightened out so we can converse more.

I have been growing coriander/cilantro since 1978.. I think there are a number of varieties of this plant as some seeds I have sewn produce nice big leaves before going to flower and then like the ones I planted this year.. (and I set them out in March or April) didn't produce much in the way of greenery at all, but shot to bloom (which seems to last a month or more before they start going to seed.. which takes another month or so..) So this variety I have is producing lots of "Coriander" seeds. I harvested a bunch yesterday. Perhaps if you want to try growing your own coriander..for coriander.. I can send you some..


Jeanna you must be a young one. But I love to help young ones. You can find seed to mustard in the grocery store. Not this time of year.. well it depends.. Mustard seed can be purchased at most stores that carry any kind of seed from the first of January up until about NOW! You may want to try wallie world, Krogers, or Lowes, or whatever other big stores you have that have a lawn and garden department.

What you buy for "pickling mustard seeds" are the same thing you buy to grow mustard plants to harvest mustard greens. Mustard is mustard.. most of the seeds I have tried have that same sharp bite that we all love about mustard. I have grown "Brown mustard" that was supposed to yield the seeds for spicy brown and regular brown mustard.. but I had people buying the greens from me.. I have grown whatever mustard variety I had for greens, then harvested it for seeds. So just buy some mustard seeds and go for it. Now I haven't tried growing mustard from the yellow mustard seeds I got in the spice section.. but I think I will give that a try!

Garlic is easy.. Well.. it's a lot easier for me than onions! I don't know what I do to onions.. But if you want some garlic to start.. Let me know right here. I will try to get my e-mail address straightened out.. I keep putting off getting it fixed.

But growing "spices" is relatively easy for the ones I mentioned. Now the Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, etc.. I think I"m going to my Indian connection!

I just started pickling things last year. I had bought pickling cuc’s by mistake – was aiming for Zucchini’s when mine died off – but decided to give them a go. This year planted them intentionally for new pickles and have tried picking other things as well (and will continue to try). I don’t grow too many herbs (just old standbys – Basil, oregano, parsley, chives, mint, cilantro/coriander – added Rosemary, thyme and sage this year) but now find I need to expand to see what else I can add since I am using so many spices for pickling. Next year I think I’ll give Mustard a shot and try harvesting mustard seed. I’ll also add Bay and have to see what else I can grow in Zone 6.

I am definitely a "young" gardener. Not sure how "young" in age. But my garden is packed this year and it has no chemicals on it so that's a plus! This year in Missouri we have had lots of rain and my garden is just huge!

Anyway, back to the spices. I will definitely try to plant the mustard. I grew up in the south and we ate lots of mustard greens. In fact, I think my mom planted some this year but she tore them out because she said "I don't want to fool with them anymore"(hmmm!) Tell me how you harvest the seeds - just wait til they go to seed and then pick - are they in pods? How do you store them? Can I grind them (in a coffee grinder?) and use them as I do the ground mustard I get in the spice section of the store?

About the garlic, YES, I would love to try it. But I know NOTHING about it. Do you plant it in the fall? Also, do you replant the cloves every year?

I can't thank you enough for the information I get on this board. In fact, my dad is ready to start his first compost pile. At first everyone kind of looked at me like "silly Jeanna" but now I'm getting a little bit of attention with that healthy looking garden I have growing!

Let me know if I can send you an envelope for the garlic or whatever. Sounds exciting. I have the normal veges, tomatoes, zucchini, cukes, and now I'm ready to try spices! Here goes nothing - my husband better clear off some more yard! ha! (Poor guy!)

Jeanna

I buy frontier pound bags of sweet pickle spice. Sometimes I make my won with mustard seed, cloves etc for beets. Only spice I have is basil and lemon balm. Still trying to grow some other herbs, but can't ever get it to grow.

There is a definite difference in mustard seeds...the one being the hottest I have had is a white one, slightly smaller than the regular white seeds, and sold as the Hot Chinese Mustard. All mustard is hot, when sampled 10 min. after mixing with water, but nothing is like that stuff! I'm not sure what would be different about the greens, if anything.

Here is a list of a few Asian mustard greens. None mention saving the seeds, so these are probably just grown for the greens, though there is only one way to find out.

How many plants does it take to get how many seeds (weight, not number - lol)?

Dave

Whoa... weight? I was happy to get teaspoons and tablespoons of the stuff.

After mustard has it's pretty yellow blossoms, it forms these long thin "pods" of seed. They are thin.. about the thickness of a skinny toothpick. I have actually used pod and all when putting them in pickles. You can harvest the seeds by gently twisting the pods and the seeds pop out.

I have my darn e-mail address working again.

I threw some seed in the garden for mustard, but it was old. I have to find my newer package of mustard seeds.

I made another batch of pickles this evening. I think its fun to go looking for spices in the yard. In this case, I was just looking for dill weed.

This "The Joy of Pickling" book has a recipe for sweet cucumber slices that calls for fennel, corianider and mustard seeds, plus allspice. I plan to try this recipe as soon as my fennel seeds fill out (they are blooming now, but seeds are a week or so away). I harvested fresh coriander seeds a few days ago. I think it would be great to make pickles using everything from my garden.. but the allspice.

An FYI,, the fennel I bought some years ago that was supposed to be a biennial turned out to be a perernnial (sp?) so it comes up every year and I have to fight the seedlings to keep it from taking over my place.

The B&B pickles I make have 1/4 c mustard seeds in them, so they would be gone fast. Plus the coriander seed I use in all the Thai and other SE Asian food I make amounts to about a pound a year, so I don't think I am going to try to grow that, either.

I've heard that about seed fennel - the fact that it is invasive. Does it all flower every year, or just the 2 year old stuff? I know somebody who has parsley like this, so there is always usable parsley, that is not flowering, but also some flowering for the next season.

I did start some of that mustard spinach inside last night. I don't know why I didn't before, but I did want to try it in the heat, so I can see if it bolted in June from the heat, or simply because it had reached the age to bolt. I'll transplant it in a couple of weeks - I remember it got huge so fast in the spring that it was almost too early to put it out, then was harvest size in 30 days from seeding, so I should have no problem here. Then I'll leave it to bolt, and sample the seeds.

Dave

quote:

I never grew my own coriander seed, but it would be better for me to grow than cilantro, since it bolts in no time! However, to get a maximum amount of seeds, a large plant is needed, so this really wouldn't work well.

Actually, just plant a Cilantro plant, and let it bolt, instant Coriander....easy.

Garlic is easy too, not sure about Mustard.

Pickling spices are easy to get anyhow.

While I grow Coriander/Cilantro all the time for the leaves, I only grew it once for the seeds & never will again.

As soon as the seeds were dry & harvestable I harvested them. Nearly every one had a tiny hole in it via a pest. Research told me to freeze them before grinding to kill the pest. But - hello?? - all that meant was that I was grinding the pest into my coriander.

Obviously not interested in going through all that again. I'd rather buy commercial ground Coriander & just hope/forget that it might have larvae ground into it.

Or buy coriander seed, and look for the holes...though I don't think I am going to search every seed before I grind it! lol

Speaking of coriander seed, if you are interested in especially aromatic coriander, for pickling of grinding for other uses, look in Indian shops for a sort of yellowish, and elongated coriander seed - has much better flavor than the usual.

Dave

Boy, you East Coast folks have a lot of pests it sounds like. Holes bored in Coriander seed? Wow. I know from my "Field Guides" there are different things in different areas. I have been cursed with more pests that usual this year. BUT NO FLEAS!

Well... I can grow enough seeds for me. Now Pepperhead.. you are a unique person! In so many ways! I may have to learn more about your netting system.

The Fennel I have does come back and flower every year. This stuff is not a biennial. It is a pernninial. I was told by some Doctor who had lived outside of the US, that the fennel I had was like what he had experienced.. (I think) in Africa! IT is an invasive perennial. I bought the seeds as "bulb" fennel back in the late 1980's (1987 or later) but I have never had a bulb.. only stalks of fennel that get to be 6-8 feet tall. It is very aromatic. I have both green fennel and Bronze fennel. The Bronze fennel isn't as prolific as the green stuff.

Anyway... I may have to dig horseradish next.. I am experimenting a lot with this pickling book.

The mustard seed I planted from a 2004 package came up prolifically.. but we are having a dry spell, so it may not survive.

I did plant some yellow mustard seeds from my jars.. I haven't checked them out yet. I will update if I see sprouts!