Spice Chronicles: Turmeric
In this ongoing series, Food Innovation Lab Graduate Assistant, Archish Kashikar writes on commonly used spices and seasonings.
Turmeric is one of the most widely used spices in India. In fact, amidst the multitude of cultures, languages and different cuisines present in the country, turmeric is something that we can see in a majority of households. The root/rhizome of the turmeric plant, is the part most widely utilised, can be consumed fresh, or dried. The yellow turmeric powder that you would find at a store, is the powder made by dehydrating and then grinding the root.
The reason behind the colour of the root is a chemical compound called Curcumin. This chemical is responsible for the health benefits associated with turmeric. While there appear to be countless therapeutic benefits to curcumin supplementation, most of them can be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These effects and benefits have made it one of the most prominent spices in India, with records going back thousands of years. It is also commonly used for Ayurvedic medicinal treatments, which have been thought to originate as far back as 1000-800 BCE. A common treatment for a cold in india is a mixture of freshly ground ginger, honey and turmeric powder.
Turmeric powder has a warm, bitter, musty taste and an earthy, mustard-like aroma. The spice powder can be used to flavour as well as colour a variety of dishes, and the fresh form of the spice is used widely in south-east Asian cooking. Turmeric has ingrained itself in many cuisines across the middle east and Asia, also appearing in many dishes that define a certain cuisine. In Vietnamese cuisine, turmeric powder is used to colour and enhance the flavour of dishes like Bánh Xèo (a stuffed pancake made with rice batter) and Mi Quang (a noodle dish from the Quang Nam province). In Indonesia, the turmeric leaf is used by the Minang/Padang communities in their curry bases, most notable is the Rendang curry which can be found all over Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore today. In Myanmar, the Ohn No Khao Swè (Khou Suey) is a noodle dish with a curry that uses turmeric as a key ingredient for flavour as well as its distinct yellow tinted colour. In Morocco, the Ras-el-hanout translating to “head of the shop”, is a popular spice blend that contains turmeric powder. The name indicates that this blend is usually the best mix a shop can offer and each shop has a different secret recipe that is closely guarded. Fresh turmeric is widely used in thai cuisine, like the yellow thai curry and a curried pumpkin and meatball dish. Various Persian dishes also have widespread use of turmeric powder, including Dampokhtak (turmeric rice), Khoresh Gheymeh (meat and yellow split-pea stew) and many other dishes.
The use of turmeric in the culinary world has exploded in recent years, from Starbucks’s adaptation of the traditional milk and turmeric drink (Haldi Doodh) into Turmeric Latte, to the infusion of turmeric in herbal teas, use in many contemporary French and French influenced dishes and the overall spread of the spice indicates the growing interest in it as a commodity. Although the health benefits of Turmeric have not yet been clinically proven, turmeric has always been at the forefront of medicine, folklore and food in South Asia, where it will continue to do so. There might be some grain of truth that drove generations of people to trust in this spice for their problems, and therefore in my opinion turmeric can very well be considered one of the most important and influential spices in the modern world.