Healthy Ways To Use Turmeric In Your Kitchen- Benefits And Use of Turmeric In Cooking

Use of Turmeric is one of the oldest and a wonder spices used as one go – to fix for centuries in our household. Because of its golden color and rich taste it is used in Indian cooking since 500 BC. Turmeric is a root similar to ginger but is smaller in size. It is warming, pungent, dry and digestive in its nature. Due to healing property it has special place in Ayurveda Medicine. These Benefits of Turmeric are well known but to list a few:

• It act as an antiseptic
• It provides immunity
• It is great anti-inflammatory
• It is good for skin Health

But all these benefits of turmeric are because one active compound Called CURCUMIN which also gives turmeric its Yellow Color.

But Curcumin is very difficult to digest and absorb in our Body.

Here are four simple tips on how to use turmeric:

Use Whole Turmeric Root:

Prefer having turmeric in raw organic form rather than in supplements. Other than curcumin there are 100 of compounds found in turmeric root. These combinations of curcuminoids have more bio-availability than any one curcuminoid used alone.  Research has shown that these compounds work together in synergy and make curcumin absorb-able to our body.   After processing some of the important compounds are lost. So it’s better to use whole turmeric root for cooking.

• Mix with Black Pepper: Similar to turmeric, Black pepper also has a compound called Piperine. It is responsible for all the good properties of black pepper. In various studies have shown taking black pepper ad turmeric together can enhance the bioavailability of pepper by 2000%. It works by protecting and preventing our digestive enzymes to remove curcumin from our blood stream. Therefor adding freshly grounded black pepper to your cooking and milk is great way to increase the absorption of curcumin in our body.
• Use Fat: One of the properties of cumin is that it is hydrophobic, which means it has less to no solubility in water but it is lipophilic means it is great friends with fat in our food. So it is great option to have turmeric with some kind of fat. But in Indian cooking we don’t have to worry about this as we use turmeric mostly in all our meals or tadka which is actually the best way to have turmeric. If you want to add turmeric to your milk or curd prefer it with full fat milk or curd. Traditionally, benefits of turmeric are achieved through dietary consumption, even at low levels, over long periods of time.
• Cooking Method: Many spices and their compounds are transformed, altered or activated by heat. To know how high and for how long the heat should be given to spice is important. Since Turmeric is moderately sensitive to heat, short cooking i.e. under 15 minute. It will not destroy turmeric, but will in fact increase the bio-availability of curcumin and will maximize its absorption by the body.

How can we include Turmeric in Our Food?

• Add pinch to your soups, stews and curries.
• Add it to you sautéed veggies with black pepper.
• Give golden color to otherwise plain and simple rice.
• Add it your lentils and vegetables.
• Add pinch to your regular glass of milk.
• Make Tea (Ginger – Turmeric )
• Add it to your pickles.

As Turmeric has many benefits, it is considered as a superhero in the world of spice. It is called Tridoshic in Ayurveda as it used to balance all three doshas —- Just Don’t overuse it.