By KiddieDaily Editors · Jun 30, 2026 · 3 min read · Ages 8–10 · 1 source

What’s jimbu? The herb that bolsters an iconic Nepali dish could also help save snow leopards

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Facebook Linkedin Threads Whatsapp Reddit Email Page link Communities in the remote Himalayan Phu Valley in Nepal, have begun farming jimbu — an aromatic chive central to a staple food, dal bhat. Some 37 households are involved in the pilot project.This herb offers a potential conservation dividend: Its pungent smell deters blue sheep from raiding crops; since they’re snow leopards’ main prey, it may reduce the cats’ visits to human settlements and lower livestock predation.Growing jimbu, with three yearly harvests, could generate about 12 million rupees ($79,500) — roughly $2,150 per household in communities where potato farming offers little cash income.Experts caution that the model is not universally replicable and warn against blanket adoption across other snow leopard habitats, emphasizing site-specific conservation needs.See All Key Ideas KATHMANDU — In Nepal, there’s a popular saying: “dal bhat power, 24 hour.” It refers to a humble plateful of rice and soupy lentils that Nepalis swear by, both at home and across the diaspora, as fuel for the body and a taste of home where it’s a staple meal for lunch and dinner. Now, an aromatic herb from the Himalayas that gives the Nepali staple its distinctive flavor offers Indigenous communities a potential promise: An alternative source of income and fewer conflicts with the iconic snow leopards that live in these mountain peaks.

The residents of Phu Valley who cultivate jimbu (Allium przewalskianum) in this high-altitude settlement, located in the trans-Himalayan region of Manang that borders China’s Tibet region will tell you. They grow this herb, also known as Himalayan chive, as a cash crop — and as a way to help save “the big cat of the mountains.” Dried jimbu is usually fried in ghee, or clarified butter, and poured over simmering dal for an earthy flavor. “Whenever we talk about dal bhat, the most famous of them all is the Thakali version prepared by the Thakali communities of the mountains,” said Shailendra Thakali, an expert in environmental conservation, tourism and livelihoods, referring to a version of the dish made by Indigenous people known for their traditional cuisines.

“And the Thakali dal bhat owes its unique taste and aroma to jimbu,” Thakali added. Until recently, residents foraged this herb from steep, risky slopes. They used some in their own cooking, and sold whatever was left, because it fetched large sums, with growing demand in Nepal and beyond.

In 2022, the Narpa Bhumi Rural Municipality — where Phu village is located — partnered with Mountain Spirit, a Nepal-based NGO, to launch a pilot project to domesticate jimbu in nearby abandoned farmland, turning it into a community asset. Almost all of the 37 households in this region, about 200 people, are now involved in jimbu farming, said Kunchok Tenzin Lama, chairperson of the municipality. The project is supported by the Darwin Initiative, a U.K.

grant program, and the Snow Leopard Conservancy. Lama said that until two decades ago, jimbu was mostly used as a medicinal herb to treat headaches or pains among the mountain communities. Food items like dal were not available in high altitude, and they sometimes used jimbu in fried potatoes.

But as locals started trading the herb in the hills, where it was already being used in their staple dal bhat, they realized its business potential. “It’s fetching a good value, so we thought of farming it in our abandoned lands and mass-producing it,” Lama said. Three years later, this first-of-its-kind initiative is showing gradual results.

Wild cuttings of the herb — which looks like chives and grows in dense clumps — were transplanted in about 41 polytunnels in the 3.4-hectare (8.4-acre) plot. It can be harvested three to four times a year, with farmers only snipping the thin grass-like leaves and stem without uprooting the plant. Lama said the soil quality, which is similar to the places where locals traditionally foraged for jimbu, makes the area conducive for farming it.

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