Turmeric can do anything
"turmeric has done a cauliflower – from also-ran to hip ingredient du jour" Felicity Cloake
Not just any old ingredient though - an ingredient that will cure just about everything. Well if you read all those health food sites that's what you are led to believe anyway.
It's medical use is ancient - particularly with the Indians and ayurvedic medicine. And if you look at enough sites you will find that it does indeed cure just about everything - all the nasties anyway - cancer, diabetes 2, alzheimers, various bowel diseases ... They are almost all down to the anti-inflammatory effect of the vital ingredient in turmeric - curcumin. However, when you start to look at the real scientific evidence you find that the jury is still out.
"Curcumin falls into what science journal Nature calls the “chemical deceiver category” in that it’s “widely touted as having medicinal activity, but … gives false signals in drug screening tests” The Guardian
Nevertheless they continue to research curcumin and eventually they may well find something. And here is a confession on my part. I started to think about this article a week or so ago after turmeric pills had been suggested as something to try for David's current bout of sciatica (stenosis of the spine actually I think). I began to research it and found a very useful site that divided all the claims made for it into three categories - potentially promising, maybe and no evidence at all. However, of course, I cannot find that article now, so am unable to state which areas are more promising than others. Suffice to say that no research into any of its supposed benefits has come up with a completely positive result as yet. Perhaps the most that could be said for it is that it won't do you any harm - well as long as you don't eat ridiculous amounts. And it's cheap. David is taking the pills, though he doesn't think they are doing anything for his particular affliction.
However most commentators seemed to agree with Felicity Cloake that:
"if you’re eating it in the hope of as yet undiscovered health benefits then always combine it with black pepper, and a fat of some sort, to maximise the curcumin absorption." Felicity Cloake - The Guardian
Which may explain the craze for turmeric latte. Well I will take the commentators words for it that there is a craze for such a thing. I think it's based on a home cure of hot milk and turmeric from India/Pakistan. What it is apparently is:
"cold-pressed turmeric juice added to almond, cashew or coconut milk."
'Cold-pressed turmeric juice'! Honestly ... You can buy Chai turmeric latte, and turmeric latte kits in Coles and Woolworths.
As well as the tablets, you can get teas, various cosmetic products - creams and masks, shampoos and conditioners (I'd be worried about what that would do to the colour of my hair - ditto for skin products I guess), biscuits, chips, yoghurt, kombucha and kefir. And doubtless there are many, many more.
I use turmeric all the time - well all the times I make a curry - there are not a lot of Indian curries that do not include turmeric in the spice mix after all. So who can say what good it has been doing me all these years. One thing I do know is that if you get any of it on your clothes then you won't get it out. Because it's also used as a dye I think. One thing I did learn from all this though is that the darker the colour the more beneficial and flavoursome it is likely to be.
It comes from the root (well rhizome) of a plant and is related to ginger which it resembles. The flower looks rather lovely. It is native to India and South-East Asia and needs very warm temperatures and high rainfall - tropical conditions in fact. They grow it in northern Australia I think, because occasionally you see the actual rhizomes on sale in the supermarket and probably in the Queen Vic Market or in an Asian greengrocer. And we are blessed here in Australia to have easy access to all of those Asian ingredients.
So there you go. Very trendy. Supposedly will cure all your ills. But don't hold your breath.
In the meantime use it for your curries.
