Turmeric

Hello readers, ‘Veins of Food’ is back with another article about another wonderous ingredient which is an important vein of food in various cuisine, turmeric. This ingredient is available in almost every South Asian and middle eastern household as it is a basic common ingredient here.

Haldi, as known in India, is scientifically named as ‘curcuma longa’ from the ‘zingiberaceae’ family. Teramerita(latin-meritorious earth) or turmeric is a rhizome of the turmeric plant which grows up to 3 feet above the ground. Turmeric originates in South East Asia, recorded 4000 years ago in the vedic culture of India. Turmeric travelled from India to some countries like China-700 A.D., East Africa-800 A.D., West Africa-1200 A.D., Jamaica-eighteenth century. These were some of the first countries to use turmeric in their cuisine and medicines.

Turmeric grows in a tropical climate. Its standard appearance is described as follows, it has a length of 2.5-7cm, width of 2.5 cm with a yellowish-brown flesh and dull orange skin. It resembles ginger in shape.

Turmeric has many names just the way it has many benefits. In India, it has many names in various regions and languages, e.g.

• North India: Haldi

• Tamil and Malayalam: Manjal

• Sanskrit: Haridra

• Kannada: Arishina

• Telugu: Pasupu

• Sanskrit has 53 names of turmeric which reflect its qualities in physical appearance, medicinal properties, religious importance, some of these names are:

• Ansetha(not for sacrifice or homa)

• Bhadra(auspicious or lucky)

• Dhirgaraja(long in appearance)

• Gandhaplashika(produces good smell)

• Varnadatri(enhancer of body complexion)

• Gharshani(to rub)

• Haridra(dear to hari)

• Umavara(Parvati)

• Yoshitapriya(beloved of wife)

• Hemaragi(golden in colour)

• Pinga(reddish or brown)

• Pinja(yellow-red)

• Jawarantika(which cures fever)

• Krimighni or kashpa(killer of worms)

• Vishagni(killer of poison)

• Shita(fiburous root)

Turmeric is highly imported in countries like Sri Lanka, Iran, Japan, UK, US, Middle Eastern countries, North Africa, Ethiopia, etc.

Turmeric is exported majorly by India. India is a major producer of turmeric and an exporter of 90% of turmeric across the globe. Rest 10% is exported by Thailand, other Southeast Asian countries, Latin America & Central America, Taiwan. Indian turmeric or ‘Indian saffron’ is considered the best due to high amount of bioactive component-curcumin(2-5%). Indian turmeric is classified into two grades:

• Madras (commonly available): It is pale yellow in appearance and mostly found in dried and ground form, used mainly to flavour seafood. It has 3.5% of curcumin.

• Allepey turmeric: This dark yellow coloured turmeric has an earthy taste and strong flavour, hence, used in curries and tagines. It is named after the Allepey coast in Kerala. This turmeric is the best to consume as it has 6.5% of curcumin.

Turmeric has approximately 30 varieties which are further categorized in 3 categories on the basis of harvest:

• Long duration(9 months): Tekurpet, Duggirala, Armur, Mydukuru

• Medium duration (8 months): Kothapet, Krishna, Kesar

• Short duration (7 months): Amalapuram, Dindigram.

Erode, a type of turmeric grown in Tamil Nadu, is the most popular and best variety of turmeric, on the other hand Krishna is the type of turmeric plant that gives the highest yield of green turmeric. Best quality turmeric which are highly exported to UK, USA, Japan, Middle East are, Allepey finger from Kerala, Erode and Salem from Tamil Nadu, Rajapore and Sangli from Maharashtra, Nizamabad bulb from Andhra Pradesh. These types are exported in the form of fresh turmeric, dried turmeric or turmeric oleoresin.

Local varieties of turmeric of major turmeric producing states are:

• Andhra Pradesh- Amruthapani, Armoor, Duggirala, Tekurpeta

• West Bengal and Assam- Pattant

• Kerala- Wynad (marketed as Allepey)

• Maharashtra- Karhadi, Waigon (major regional variety)

• Tamil Nadu- Chimandan(popular), Perianadan (marketed as Madras type), BSR-1, PTS-10, Roma, Suguna, Sudarsana, Salem.

Turmeric is also available in the variety of white turmeric (amba haldi) and black turmeric (kali haldi), which comes from the same family as curcuma longa. Amba haldi is also called as zedoaria which is the root of the zedoaria plant (native to India, Indonesia and also cultivated in US and Europe). It has a slight bitter taste with a tint of raw mango and ginger and comes with a white flesh and light brown exterior. Raw white turmeric is used in Thai and Indian salads by thinly slicing them or pickling them, white turmeric powder is used in Indonesian curries and replaced by ginger. It is a substitute of arrowroot and used in Indian perfumes and festive rituals. White turmeric powder is sold as ‘kentjur’ in China. In Indian markets, two types of white turmeric are sold; curcuma zeodaria or ‘round’ turmeric which is small and flat, curcuma zerumbet or ‘long’ which is long and slender.

White turmeric has different names across the world like; zeodaire in French, zeodaria in Itallian, zitwer in German, cedoaria in Spanish, Amba haldi, garndhmul, kachur in Hindi, kentjur in Chinese and Indonesian. Commonly white turmeric is called as wild turmeric as well.

Black turmeric is the root of plant curcuma caesia, which has a bluish-black flesh and categorized as a rhizome, is a native to North East India. It is used for medicinal and religious purposes. It is used as an antifungal, muscle relaxant, anti-asthamic, anti-oxidant, analgesic locomotor depressant, anti-ulcer activities, etc.

Production of turmeric:

Fresh turmeric is harvested in winter after the plants have died down with all the leaves and stems dried up. This takes place after 7-10 months after planting. It is washed well post harvesting to remove the soil and dirt. After that, the fingers are separated from the mother bulbs. After cleaning, these rhizomes are cured by boiling them in water until soft before drying them out. Boiling removes raw odour, reduces drying time, gives a uniform colour to the product and gelatinizes starch. Drying takes place in an open space in 5 to 7 cm thick layer over uncoated bamboo mats or concrete drying floor. The rhizomes take 10 to 15 days to completely dry. Drying them artificially gives them a brighter colour than sun drying. A sign for a sufficiently dried finger is when it is broken, it makes a metallic sound. Dried turmeric is polisher by removing surface scales, small rootlets and any remaining soil particles. This is done in two ways; manual and mechanical means. Manual means include rubbing the fingers on as hard surface, trampling them with feet in a jute bag or shaking them with stones in a jute bag or bamboo baskets. In mechanical means, polishing is done in a drum rotated by hand or power. The polished fingers and bulbs are then coloured in one of the two ways; dry colouring and wet colouring. Turmeric powder is added in last 10 minutes in the rotating drum which is being used to polish the turmeric fingers, this is done to dry colour the turmeric. For wet colouring, turmeric powder id mixed in water and then it is sprinkled on the polished turmeric lastly. Turmeric is then made market ready by treating the fingers with emulsions containing alum, turmeric powder, castor seed paste, sodium bisulfite and sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. At last, before packaging and supplying the turmeric, it is graded into fingers (daughter rhizome 2.5 to 7.5cm in length, 1 cm+ diameter, more expensive than bulbs and splits), bulbs (mother rhizomes, oval in shape and has a greater diameter than fingers), splits (bulbs or fingers split in half to facilitate curing).

Uses of turmeric:

Turmeric is mainly used in cooking by the South East Asians and middle eastern community. But now-a-days, turmeric is trending in western cuisines as well. The west, mostly uses turmeric in the form of dried turmeric fingers or turmeric powder. Dishes like turmeric latte, turmeric soup are popular adoptions by the western cuisine from Thai and Indonesian cuisines.

Turmeric is a natural for curries in South East Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines. It is used raw, in pastes, dried and powdered in curries, soups and salads, mainly for flavour and colour. Turmeric is also commonly used in spice blends like curry powder and ras el hanout (a Moroccan spice mix). In Cambodia, turmeric is used in a famous curry paste- ‘kroeung’ which is used in popular dishes like Amok (a curry of beef or chicken served with rice). It poses as a main ingredient in Japanese curry powders. Some Malaysian dishes like ‘laksa’ (spicy noodle soup consisting of thick wheat noodles with chicken, prawn or fish) include turmeric in a powdered form whereas ‘asam laksa’ uses turmeric in a fresh form; both the dishes come from Penany cuisine. Thai cuisine uses turmeric in dishes like yellow curry, turmeric soup, turmeric latte or ‘golden milk’ (coconut milk and turmeric); Iranian khoresh dishes(stews) and rice dishes like sabzi polow mahi i.e., herb rice with fish uses turmeric in turmeric in pastes and spice mixes; turmeric is used in small amounts to add flavour and colour in Vietnamese dishes like ‘banh xeo’ and South African dishes like ‘yellow rice served with boboties’.

Turmeric is a medicinally benefitting ingredient, but to have the most of its benefits, one needs to cook it right. The main component responsible for turmeric’s medicinal qualities is curcumin. It is highly bio-available in fresh and raw turmeric than cooked, boiled or dried turmeric. This is because, by boiling the turmeric for a long period, for processing it or for cooking it, the loss of is time, while cooking, to 5 to 10 min and adding a souring agent in the final stage in boiling. Turmeric can be added in a tadka for dal, in sabzis, etc. retaining most of the curcumin.

Turmeric and Ayurveda:

Turmeric has been an ayurvedic remedy for 4000 years. It is said to be the holy powder of Ayurveda due to its powerful anti-oxidant compound, curcumin which and its many medicinal properties. It is an anti-oxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-carcinogenic (prevention of cancer), anti-mutagenic (prevents mutagen from changing genetic material of our body) and anti-inflammatory. Turmeric balances vata, pitta and kapha, but if consumed excessively, can aggravate pitta and vata. It is also beneficial for rasa and rakta dhatus (the plasma and blood circulatory system). Turmeric also kindles agni (digestive fire), helping reduce kapha and ama(toxins). Turmeric is useful in curing liver problems, digestive ailments to even ring worms and itching. The anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric help healing rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. It also helps in comforting mild joint pains. The curcumin in turmeric is beneficial for the brain as it repairs the stem cells of the brain. Raw turmeric aids digestion. Due to its healing properties, turmeric is applied over wounds, scars and burns. Diabetes can be fought more effectively with the help of turmeric, as it brings insulin levels in the blood at a moderate level. It is said to delay type 2 diabetes and it increase the effectiveness of any medications taken to deal with diabetes. It detoxifies liver by producing vital enzymes which helps detoxify blood in the liver by breaking down toxins.

Turmeric is not just limited to food and medicine, but also has a great religious importance. It symbolizes fertility, prosperity, purity and spiritual connection with earth, sun, abundance and sacral chakra (2nd chakra of the human body, associated with creativity and confidence). It is also used in marriage ceremony to purify the aura and boost health and immune. Dry turmeric is tied around the neck to boost the sacral chakra.

Dear reader, thank you for reading my article on turmeric. Hope you found it useful and learnt new facts about this spice. For more articles like this, please visit my site again.