Turmeric, The Gold Superfood

If last year’s colour was green (think matcha, spirulina and kale) this year’s is gold – the vibrant colour of healing turmeric 

Glance at your spice rack, and you’ll probably spot one condiment whose golden hue seems almost too bright to be edible: turmeric.

Until recently, most of us viewed turmeric as an ingredient only found in traditional Indian dishes such as curries, dhal and bhajis. The other thing anyone who’s cooked with it will know is its pesky ability to stain anything it comes into contact with, from cooking utensils to fingernails and clothes (in Asia it’s traditionally used to dye monks’ robes). Use it often and your kitchen looks as if it’s got jaundice.

Now, though, turmeric is emerging as your kitchen larder’s golden girl, a miraculous ingredient being cooked with almost anything. So as well as using it in curries, chefs and foodies are throwing it into energy bars, cakes and biscuits, popcorn, salads, houmous, teas, smoothies and lattes.

WHY THE HYPE?

People are cottoning on to something that users of Ayurvedic medicine have known for millennia: turmeric contains a compound called curcumin that has powerful anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. A growing body of research suggests that curcumin can inhibit the growth of cancer cells and could help prevent and arrest dementia, too.

Clinical trials over the past few decades have shown remarkable results and, in some cases, turmeric has proved more effective than branded prescription drugs.