Curry Plant

A type of herb that is grown both for its ornamental beauty, its aroma and its flavor when used in foods. As a young plant it looks very similar to lavender, growing dusty greenish-grey, needle shaped leaves. Once it matures however, the appearance of this herb changes as small round, yellow colored flowers bloom on the stalks of the plant which may reach 24 inches in height.

When consumed as a food, Curry Plant is most often considered a seasoning which the English use to flavor cream cheese sandwich spreads. Due to the strong aroma of this herb which does have a distinctive sage-like fragrance or that of a mixture of curry spices, Curry Plant is added to foods sparingly, providing a distinctive flavor for salads or meats. It is also added to mayonaise with eggs to season salads or it is used to flavor meats, such as chicken when it is tucked under the skin of the poultry during cooking. The Curry Plant should not be confused with curry leaves that grow on the curry tree. Although curry leaves are also used to season various foods, the plant providing these leaves is considerably larger and is a different plant entirely from the Curry Plant.