Black Turmeric (Curcuma caesia) is not as popular as the regular Turmeric (Curcuma longa) probably because it does not taste good so it's not usually used for cooking. However, it has a lot of medicinal properties which we will come back to later on.
The Black Turmeric plant resembles the regular turmeric but the leaves are slightly different and has a purple patch that runs near the center.
The rhizomes are different from those of the regular Turmeric. The base of the plant would form a kind of bulb from which roots are coming out and you would see a bit that looks like fingers sticking out as you can see in the photo from my website:
I usually break those fingers off and sell them online for people who are after them for their medicinal properties or those who want to propagate them themselves.
This morning, I took some photos for a customer who wants to buy 5 rhizomes off me ($45 AUD each). I'm one of the rare sellers in Australia and for the price they are sold for, customers usually want proof that they are buying the real deal. How you can tell whether the rhizome is from a Black Turmeric plant is by looking at the color of the inside, it should be white with a blue/purpleish center.
I always select bits that have started to sprout to make sure the client would receive a viable rhizome for planting.
This is how a large rhizome of Curcuma caesia looks like.
For those who buy just a single rhizome, I would package them with coco coir inside a little Organza bag and ship them via Express Post.
Over a year ago, I gifted Rob Bob from Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm on Youtube with a little rhizome. Being in Queensland, he is lucky to have a much longer growing season than me down here in colder New South Wales and his plant has been thriving and flowering. My regular Turmeric have flowered couple of times already but never the Black variety and the Black turmeric flower is BEAUTIFUL:
Photo courtesy Rob Bob's Aquaponics & Backyard Farm on Youtube
Hopefully, I'll see one of them in my backyard one day.
Medicinal properties of Curcuma caesia
I don't like putting out claims about medicinal properties of plants without checking their validity, so in this section I will list a few of the properties that I can support with scientific papers:
The results of the present study revealed remarkable analgesic, locomotor depressant, anticonvulsant and muscle relaxant effects of C. caesia rhizome, demonstrating depressant action on the central nervous system. The outcome of present study can validate certain traditional uses of C. caesia rhizome in India
Source: Neuropharmacological assessment of Curcuma caesia rhizome in experimental animal models
In summary, the
total phenol content and antioxidant activity were significantly high in C. caesia rhizome
extract than the C. amada rhizome extract
Some antifungal effect was noted, but no consideration was given in designing the experiment to the fact that oil diffused poorly through agar gels. The significance of the results therefore remains unclear
Source: Antifungal activity of the essential oil of Curcuma caesia Roxb.
Results: MECC (methanol extract of Curcuma caesia) showed direct cytotoxicity (IC50 90.70 ± 8.37 μg/mL) on EAC cell line. MECC exhibited significant (p < 0.01) decrease in tumor volume, tumor weight, viable cell count and percentage increased the lifespan (57.14 and 88.09%) of EAC-treated mice. Hematological profile, biochemical estimation, tissue antioxidant assay significantly (p < 0.01) reverted to normal level in MECC-treated mice.
Conclusion: MECC possesses potent antitumor activity that may be due to its direct cytotoxic effect or antioxidant properties. Further research is in progress to find out the active principle(s) of MECC for its antitumor activity.
The antidiarrheal, antibacterial, diuretic, antiemetic, anthelmentic, aphrodisiac and woundhealing properties of rhizome have been reported.
Source: Abiotic stresses increase plant regeneration ability of rhizomeexplants of Curcuma caesia Roxb.
Some of my clients are growing them for their own use but I'm pretty sure others will be selling Curcuma caesia themselves and that is a good thing. This will make its important medicinal properties more available to everyone. Why buy chemical when you can grow your own medicine?
It takes me almost a year from planting the rhizome to harvesting more and I can only plant so much. This is why I don't even sell 10 rhizomes in a year but once I start advertising for them, they are gone in just few days. So the more people grow and sell them, the better the world 😊.
Previously on my Ulog:
- ULOG 121 - My bee hotel & mini contest to win 5 SmartVote shares
- ULOG 120 - Garden update
- ULOG 115 - What I think of Fiskars X21 axe and X7 hatchet
- ULOG 113 - TGIF
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