Fresh Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Turmeric is one of our favorite plants to grow in the food forest! Aside from all the well-known culinary and medicinal uses of the rhizomes and leaves, the plant itself provides many benefits to a food forest system.

It can handle full sun but thrives in the shade, making it an ideal understory companion plant for trees. Turmeric’s growth habit make it a perfect home for small frogs and their large leaves are perfect landing pads for dragonflies and damselflies which help control insect populations. When planted densely enough, they do a great job of suppressing undesirable weeds, and because they multiply so profusely, propagating and spreading them around is a breeze. It’s also a great summertime “cover crop” for vegetable beds if you’re in the tropics/subtropics.

Our turmeric stock is a mix between the “Yellow Indira” variety as well as the classic orange variety.

Curcuma longa