Organic Herbs

Herbs have been used since ancient times to add flavour to foods, for their medicinal qualities and their wonderful fragrances. The difference between what are organic herbs and what are spices is often unclear. Herbs are the leaves of a plant. Spices are produced from the other parts i.e. the flowers, seeds and roots. The “Encyclopedia of Herbs” by Deni Bown lists over one thousand herbs.

Top selling organic herbs.

Two of the top selling organic herbs that fetch good prices are ginger and garlic. Other popular organic herbs are basil, mint, coriander (or cilantro), parsley, thyme, rosemary, dill, tarragon, oregano and chives.

Most organic herbs and spices are thought to be good for your health, particularly cinnamon. Turmeric has been used to dissolve cancer cells. India has an extremely low Alzheimer’s profile and in India they use turmeric the way we use salt and pepper. Turmeric contains the special trace element yttrium. The special thing about yttrium is that injecting it gave a three-fold increase in the lifespan of the test animals. Ginseng has all sorts of claims including improving endurance and longevity, but it takes endurance and time to grow, as the time to maturity from planting can be five to ten years.

Garlic takes 6 to 7 months to grow and it fetches a good price; less time to grow and a better price than ginger. It is the best priced organic herb, fetching $20 per kg. wholesale and $30 to $40 per kg. retail.  The demand for local organic garlic is strong as more and more people are learning that imported garlic from China is often irradiated, so you cannot grow your own from it and the nutritional value is suspect. Garlic however is time consuming to plant and to pick. It also gets planted 5cm apart and our strike rate is good if we get 50%. Digging up garlic is slow because it is small and you cannot pull it out.  Garlic is very light and yields only about 3 kg per row i.e. a yield of less than $100 per row.

Ginger is next best in price for organic herbs and fetches about $12 per kg. retail.

Growing organic herbs.

Most organic herbs are grown from cuttings or by splitting the roots. The only organic herbs we grow from seeds are oregano, coriander, parsley and basil: these four are planted in seed boxes and then replanted as seedlings. Rosemary is grown from cuttings. With thyme you can split the roots or grow from cuttings. Chives can grow from seeds but generally you separate the clumps of little bulbs. Marjoram and mint you split the roots. Turmeric and galangal grow from bulbs or corms. Ginger breaks up into small nodules in June and is kept in potting mix in the dark with no water for three months is then planted out in September. With garlic, you divide the crowns and plant directly into the ground; but a lot of varieties will not regrow as they have either been subject to irradiation or have a ‘terminator gene’ so that you have to rebuy them from the chemical/seed companies.

Market demand and profitability of organic herbs.

Organic herbs have many uses and are worth  consideration by all gardeners and farmers as they can be profitable but  you need to find a marketing niche as the average consumer buys only a few fresh organic herbs and then in small quantities as they need to be used fresh for best results. But the good news is that when you find a customer who likes using fresh organic herbs they keep coming back! Clearly chefs at restaurants are one target market.

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