Hi again My friend's plant grows little more than a metre tall. The leaves are light to mid green and in my opinion fairly thin textured compared to some other Zingiberaceae. The plants grow in fairly dense clumps. For me the leaves are quite aromatic with a tropical fruity kind of smell. I think this plant is worth growing just for the foliar fragrance! So, Terry & Tim, does this sound like the plant that you guys grow? I cannot recall having seen flowers but research shows me that when true E. cardamomum does, the short, sparse inflorescenses spring from the rootstock like Zingiber spp. rather than terminally like Alpinia spp. Research also shows that E. cardamomum can grow to 3m or more tall in the tropics. Here in Sydney we are at the warm end of Zone 10 Terry, I looked up the website that C. J. recommended and that says the leaves of E. cardamomum can be harvested but does not say what to do with them [perhaps I scanned thru too quickly]. Do you use the leaves from your plant as a green vegetable or only for wrapping fish like banana leaves? And thanks, Terry, Tim and C. J. for your responses Regards, Peter -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of C.J. Teevan Sent: Friday, 31 January 2014 5:18 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] cardamom ginger I would think the papery version would be the fragrant one -- the rubber-leaved one would not be something you would want to... eat? So this would not be too difficult to wrap an educated guess around, perhaps? On Thursday, January 30, 2014 9:14 PM, Terry Frewin <frewintp@gmail.com> wrote: I grow cardamom in NE victoria, and one memorable year it actually flowered, but no pods, our season isn't long enough unfortunately. I cut it back in autumn, cover with a thick mulch layer under which it over winters fine. Yes I've used the leaves in cooking. 40C today and same forecast for another 3 days On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 12:30 PM, Tim Chapman <tim@gingerwoodnursery.com>wrote: > > The rhizomes of E cardamomum are not used for cooking. In the US at least > , 99% of what's been grown and sold as cardamom is really a very shy > blooming Alpinia species. The true plant is available now but very rare by > comparison and not easily obtained. If one is in a tropical climate and > still has no blooms chances are it isn't the real deal. > > The fake cardamoms have attractive dark green waxy leaves where as the > true E cardamomum has a rather lack luster more textured "papery " leaf. > > Tim Chapman > > Sent from my iPhone > > > On Jan 30, 2014, at 7:07 PM, "C.J. Teevan" <gardenstreet184@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > > > http://ehow.com/how_6281520_plant-cardamom.html/ > > > > Live and learn... > > > > > > > > On Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:38 PM, Peter Franks < > peter.scaevola@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Hi to all > > > > A friend has asked me to pass on a request for information. He grows > > cardamom ginger but in this climate no flowers, so no pods but still > > luxuriant plants. He often uses ginger roots for cooking but has never > used > > the rhizomes of this ginger. Does anyone know if cardamom ginger can be > used > > in cooking? And as the leaves are wonderfully fragrant does anyone know > if > > they'd be useful for steaming, say, chicken or fish? > > > > Peter Franks in Sydney, Zone 10b [or thereabouts] where the weather is > warm > > and steamy but little worthwhile rain for many weeks > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > -- terry frewin 661 upper boho road boho 3669 03 5790 8635 0429 908 635