Tumeric, a Member of the Ginger Family!

Natural History and Cultivation

Turmeric (Curcuma Longa) is a perennial plant of the ginger family. It is grown for its aromatic root stock which is used, dried and powdered, as a condiment and spice. It is thought to have come originally from China, but is now widely cultivated in India and the West and East Indies.

Character

Turmeric is an aromatic spice with warm, rather musky overtones. It is best known as a basic ingredient of curry and in the East it has always been greatly esteemed for cooking and medicine and as a yellow dye. It is settling to the stomach and is used in herbal medicine as a gentle stimulant in liver, jaundice, dropsy and similar complaints. It is also used externally for skin diseases, healing bruises and so on.

In color and uses it resembles that of saffron. During the Middle Ages it was, misleadingly, often known as "Indian saffron".

How to Use It

The main use of turmeric is in the making of curries. It can also be used to flavor and color mustard pickles, cakes and sweets and rice dishes in much the same way as saffron. If you enjoy the flavor, experiment with turmeric in sauces for chicken and in meat or chicken soups.

How to Buy It

The lighter-colored Madras turmeric is considered one of the best varieties but there is great variation in color according to where the different kinds of turmeric come from. Color alone is not necessarily a guide to quality. Buy it powdered at supermarkets, specialists in Oriental foods and health stores. Four ounces is usually enough to buy at a time unless you make a lot of curries.