Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
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Origin:

Turmeric or Curcuma originates in India and China where it has been in use as spice and medicine for the last 5.000+ years. It’s Latin name derives from “al-krukum” which in turn translates to “Saffron” which hints at the yellow color of the rhizomes. It’s very similar to the color of Saffron.
It’s an essential part of the Ayurveda culture and used in most yellow curry spice blend, in fact it’s the ingredient which gives it the distinct yellow color. Curry-blends without Turmeric are in fact more on the grayish or green color side.
It’s color properties are in fact as powerful as it’s healing properties and are/were used to color paper, textiles and salves. Please wear gloves if you don’t want to stain your hands semi-permanently yellow. It lasts several washing attempts before it starts to fade.

Appearance of the plant:
Turmeric is from the same plant family as ginger and the appearance of the plants are extremely similar.
The leafy stems of turmeric grow about 0,5-1 m high. The leaves are 20 to 40 cm long and about 15 cm wide, elongate, alternate in two vertical rows, and arise from sheaths en-wrapping the stem. The flowers are in dense cone like spikes about 2,5 cm thick and 5-8 cm long that are composed of overlapping green bracts, which may be edged with yellow. Each bract encloses a single small Burgundy, green, pink, white, yellow, or bi-colored flower.

Soil and location:
Temperature should be above 18°C but never lover than 12°C otherwise it dies down. In the northern or very southern ranges it does like the very mid-sun spot, whereas closer to the equator it prefers part-
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shade. Soil should be rich, well-drained, and consistently moist, but not too wet otherwise the rhizomes tend to rot.

Care:
Turmeric is propagated by planting root stalk cuttings and has been under this type of cultivation for very long. Other than Ginger it does produce a fruit stand after blooming, but it’s almost never used to propagate a new plant. Harvesting is done simply by lifting the rhizomes from the soil, cleansing them, and drying them in the sun. The dried turmeric rhizomes are irregular in shape, branched or palmate, but thinner than ginger rhizomes use to be. Their color varies from dark yellow through light brown to pale buff on the outside. Turmeric may be unscraped, partly scraped, or scraped or peeled. It’s inside is a rich highly coloring orange-yellow. If planted in a pot keep in mind, that the rhizomes tend to grow sideways, so the plant needs more space to the side than in depth. Just like ginger it doesn’t like limey/ clayey water.

Medical effective components:
Turmeric’s treasure lies in Curcumin’s benefits. Curcumin has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers are investigating whether it may help diseases in which inflammation plays a role- well it has been in use for exactly these types of diseases in china and India for 5.00+ years. Turmeric has deep roots in both Chinese traditional medicine and Ayurveda for treating arthritis.
Another clinical trial showed that 90 milligrams of curcumin taken twice a day for 18 months helped improve memory performance in adults without dementia.
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It’s also said to help with heart disease, dementia, managing cholesterol level, depression and cancer.

Golden Milk:
  • 300 ml plant milk (coconut, oat, almond, hazelnut...)
  • 2-3cm fresh Turmeric rhizome or up to 10g turmeric powder
  • 1-3cm fresh ginger or up to 4g ginger powder (the more, the hotter)
  • 1g black pepper powder
  • 1g cinnamon powder
  • 5 ml coconut oil
  • a pinch of nutmeg
  • date/jujube or some Agave-syrup or honey to sweeten
The fastest way is to use a blender to blend everything together. Start with only half of the total amount of milk.
This is the raw golden milk.
You can also boil it up for 2 min, strain and/or use a milk frother.
If this tastes to foreign to you start with less turmeric and less ginger.

Tee and Infusions:
You can easily use the recipes from the ginger site and replace ginger with turmeric.

Contraindication:
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It is possible that taking high doses of the supplements can cause turmeric rash.
Although turmeric is considered safe and non-toxic in both oral and topical applications, there are studies that show a small number of people who can experience gastrointestinal issues as a result of turmeric supplementation. High dosage or long term use can cause stomach problems.
These warnings only apply to the supplemental form of turmeric. Turmeric is safe to use in its natural whole food form in cooking or in skin preparations. The National Library of Medicine's Toxicology Data Network states no adverse effects are expected at doses of up to 8,000 milligrams per day.

As always: Please be considerate and use common sense when using or handling Turmeric for whatever reason.