Brought the curry tree in, since it's getting cold

[pepperhead212]

I got quite a bit done today, including trimming my curry tree way back, and cleaning up the fabric pot, to bring it inside to my back porch. Since the curry tree is less cold tolerant than any of the others, I wanted to get that inside, before starting anything else. Eventually, I might trim a little more - from the tallest, if new growth appears below. I didn't pick the seeds this year; in fact, I didn't even see these or I would have pulled them early.
Seeds (actually, the fruits, with one seed each) of the curry tree, 10-8 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Curry tree, before trimming, to bring inside. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Trimmed branches from the curry tree, 10-8 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished trimming the curry tree... maybe. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[PlainJane]

Wow, it’s done really well outside!

[ddsack]

How doe you use it? Dry and pulverize the leaves, or just throw a whole leaf in the pot like with bay?

[pepperhead212]

I use the curry leaves fresh most of the time. Often just a few of them in a dish in the beginning, like bay leaves. But more often, I use them in the tarka - the tempering spices added towards the end. Usually a tb or so of oil is heated, then mustard seed and cumin are added, and as the spices heat up more are added (often hot peppers here), and the curry leaves added at the very end, and they crackle in the oil violently! Then this is added to the dish, sometimes just stirred in, sometimes cooked a couple more minutes.

Some spice mixes, or masalas, have a lot of curry leaves in them, dried out some in a skillet, sometimes by themselves, sometimes with other spices. A couple of them have up to 1/2 c of packed leaves, so that's what I usually use a bunch of those trimmings for!

Wow, it’s done really well outside!

It wasn't that long ago I did a trimming of at least this many branches, and took them to an Indian grocer I go to when I get a lot of them. I gave him a bunch of those Kanthari peppers I grew this year, and he had never seen those in this country! He couldn't believe I had them. They give me deals on things, like the guy at the Mexican place.

[worth1]

We have them wild around here but scared to death I might end up with the wrong thing.

[pepperhead212]

We have them wild around here but scared to death I might end up with the wrong thing.

I never heard about anything related to these that's poison. Even the seeds are eaten over in India, though I've never done that. They are in the citrus family, I know that.

[worth1]

We have them wild around here but scared to death I might end up with the wrong thing.

I never heard about anything related to these that's poison. Even the seeds are eaten over in India, though I've never done that. They are in the citrus family, I know that.

I was thinking of poison sumac which isn't supposed to be in my area.

[ddsack]

I was thinking of poison sumac which isn't supposed to be in my area.

Yes, I can see the leaves do look somewhat similar to sumac. I might leave it alone in the wild too, if in doubt.