Turmeric is a spice that comes from a plant in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, called Curcuma longa. Native to Indonesia and southern India, this perennial herbaceous plant requires tropical conditions to grow. It’s cultivated in India and the surrounding islands in the Indian Ocean and in Southeast Asia.
Turmeric has been used since antiquity for its color, aroma and taste. It was used as a spice and as a perfume during biblical times. It has an earthy, mustard-like smell and tastes a little peppery and slightly bitter.
The rhizomes, or underground stems, of the turmeric plant are a bright orange-yellow color for which the plant is cultivated. The rhizomes are harvested and taken through a boiling process. They are sun-dried for about a week and then polished in a rotating drum or by hand rubbing. Before going through this process to make the spice some rhizomes with growth buds are re-planted for the next crop.
The dried rhizomes are 1 to 3 inches in length. These yellow-orange roots are pulverized to make the spice. Turmeric is typically sold in the powder form, but some local Asian cuisines use turmeric as a root vegetable.
Cooks use turmeric as a spice, condiment, and coloring agent for many dishes. Foods that use turmeric include cheese dishes, rice dishes, dressings, fish, seafood, eggs, poultry dishes, pork, pickles, sauces, relishes and soups. Commercially prepared mustards and pickles are colorized with turmeric.
Turmeric is not used often as a clothing dye, except in India to dye traditional saris, because fabric dyed with turmeric fades in the sunlight. The bright yellow color is due to a chemical called curcumin. When it’s used for its yellow-orange color as a replacement or substitute for the more expensive saffron in cooking, turmeric may be called “Indian saffron”.
The yellow compound, curcumin, is the active ingredient in healing remedies using turmeric. Curcumin has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and it is being further researched for its potential to treat inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer. Curcumin has been found to improve liver function and lower blood cholesterol.
The medical claims for turmeric or curcumin appear to be more than just folklore. The U.S. National Institutes of Health oversees clinical research that investigates the claims of potential new drugs. In order for a drug to make it to clinical trials, where humans are given the drug, the potential new medicine has to have passed several non-clinical trials to show the drug to be safe and effective. Non-clinical trials are conducted in laboratories and with lower life forms such as bacteria, mice, rats and rabbits. In 2010 twenty-three clinical trials were either completed, ongoing or starting up to study the effects of curcumin in treating several diseases, including diabetes, kidney disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lymphoma, irritable bowel disease, cystic fibrosis, major depressive disorder, psoriasis, and various cancers.
By: Naomi Gallagher
About the Author:
Naomi Gallagher is a writer and a fantastic cook with a love for machines that help her make the most of her time in the kitchen. Making homemade bread has become one of her specialties. Learn more by visiting her sites where she likes to write about making bread and cooking great food:
http://carouselspicerack.com/ and
http://sunbeambreadmachine.com/.
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