Today I want to talk about a plant more so than an herb, the main part of this plant that we use is the root, it is found in kitchens everywhere and also in the herbalists medicine chest. It is versatile and powerful as a medicine. It also is an amazing spice to add to your food.
Turmeric! Many people call this tumeric (too-mer-ic) but it actually has an "R" in there so it really prefers to be called turmeric (tur-mer-ic).
The turmeric root looks a lot like some nasty grub worm thing crossed with ginger root. Every time I see turmeric root, that's what I think of, a grub worm pretending to be ginger. You can find it in it's root form in most grocery stores and definitely in a whole foods store. It's pretty common because of it's culinary uses. Many Asian dishes call for it, usually dried and ground which you can find in any grocery store spice aisle. As a root it's outer skin is a dull brown or tan color similar to ginger root but maybe a shade darker but once you peel it you will find the flesh is a bright orange color. The dried ground powder is slightly darker than than the fresh root. Before we go any further I want to warn you of one thing, turmeric will stain your clothes, the fresh root will stain instantly, the dried powder won't stain until you get it wet. It will also stain your fingers and hands but it washes off after a few washes so no worries there. You can wear gloves if you don't want to deal with the staining and I would highly recommend you cover your clothes with an apron or wear clothes that you don't mind getting stained, it will not come out of your clothes.
Speaking of staining clothes, in many countries turmeric is used as a clothing dye, it turns everything it touches a nice sunny yellow. The longer you leave the item in the turmeric water, the darker it will get. I've seen beautiful cotton scarves dyed with just turmeric, no chemical dyes or colors, just dunk the scarf in the turmeric water.
In the kitchen turmeric is used in many dishes, you find it most often in Asian dishes but it can be used in all kinds of other things. Soups, stews, meats, even vegetables are great with a little turmeric in it. It has a little bit of a pungent flavor and is used in making mustard for color and flavor. I once heard it referred to as "poor man's saffron" since it makes a very nice substitute for the more expensive spice.
Medicinally, turmeric is pretty amazing. It has many benefits to our health. Turmeric contains curcumin (cur cue min) which is a compound that has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric Unfortunately, turmeric doesn't contain much curcumin by weight. If you want the full effects of the curcumin in turmeric it would be a good idea to take it as an extract rather than relying on what you can get using it as a spice. Black pepper contains piperine which helps our bodies absorb the curcumin by 2000%! If you choose to only take turmeric as a food spice make sure you also add pepper to the dish.
Okay so it's powerful as a medicine but what does it do? Well, we already said it is an anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant. Antioxidants are important because they help to fight the free radicals that we absorb every day adding to our susceptibility to disease and illness. Turmeric also anti-inflammatory, recent studies have shown that short term inflammation is actually good for us, it helps to fight some bacteria in our bodies so in this way, inflammation is good but it becomes a problem when it is long term or chronic. This kind of inflammation leads to diseases like cancer, alzheimer's and some other degenerative diseases. Curcumin is a very strong anti-inflammatory and fights the chronic inflammation that can add to the disease development.
I think those two things by itself is pretty amazing but turmeric does more! We all carry a hormone in our brain called "Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor" (BDNF). It was once believed that this hormone stopped affecting our brain after childhood but recently we have discovered this is not the case. Many brain issues are caused or made worse by lower levels of BDNF. The curcumin in turmeric actually helps to increase the level of BDNF in our brains helping to prevent these brain issues or even treat the issue. Some of these issues are depression, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Curcumin also may help prevent heart disease, some kinds of cancer, and it can help with symptoms of arthritis. It has been my personal experience that turmeric is a very strong pain reliever, I use it for toothache, headache, muscle aches, arthritis and just about any other pain I may come across.
Now, with all things good there are always bad things. This is true with turmeric. These things are not necessarily bad but something to keep in mind and watch for, I'm talking about side effects. Turmeric does have blood thinning side effects, if you are taking blood thinning medications it is a very strong suggestion that you speak with your doctor before taking turmeric medicinally. You can add up to 500 mg twice a day as a food spice with relative confidence but any more than that may cause problems with your blood clotting.
The second side effect or thing to be careful of is diabetes since turmeric can lower your blood sugar. Make sure to talk to your doctor if you have diabetes.
Next on the list is for the people out there that take antacids such as Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac and others like that. Turmeric can actually increase stomach acid when it is take with these kinds of medications.
If you are pregnant you should try to avoid turmeric because it can cause the uterus to start contracting leading to a possible miscarriage. Also, it can cause a woman's period to start or increase her flow.
Lastly, individuals with gallbladder or gall stone problems should avoid turmeric and curcumin because it can aggravate your condition.
Well, now you know a little about turmeric, I hope that you will do more research on your own to find out even more about this amazing kitchen spice.
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