Homemade turmeric powder

I know, today you can buy turmeric powder at every corner. It’s also cheaper to buy prepared powder than to make your own.

The magic with homemade turmeric powder is the same as with everything homemade. It tastes better, fresher, deeper and more fragrant.

1. Buy turmeric roots, bring home and wash under running water.

2. Bring water to boil in a saucepan, add turmeric root and cook it for 40 minutes. Cool the root down and peel the outside skin (potato peeler will do). At this point you should wear rubber glows since turmeric has high yellow color content. If you don’t use rubber gloves your hands will stay yellow for few days:-).

3. Slice the root into long pieces – approximately 5 cm each.

4. Dry turmeric root. Let it rest for a day, or overnight, on a paper kitchen towel (change it once). And then put it on a plate and place it in a cold, ventilated location for few days (5-7 days). Don’t put it in direct sunlight (it will make color fade). We put ours in a cold oven and left the door ajar. Stir it once a day, or every two days.

5. It’s time to make a powder. We use mortar to break it down in smaller pieces, and than we use nut grinder to make powder. It’s a long process, since it’s hard to grind dry turmeric root (the nut grinder can get overheated). But take it slowly, grind, then do something else, then grind again. It will never have the texture like the one bought in store, but the taste will be superior in so many ways.

6. Store it in a glass canister with tight lid, it can stay like that for two years.

Health benefits of turmeric powder…It can be use as a fat-burning element and digestion aid, cancer-risk reduction, and Alzheimer’s disease remedy among others. It is also used as an ingredient in beauty products. This site has all the lovely details WHfoods.org, which I’m to lazy to transcribe!

Turmeric recipes:

Buttermilk pumpkin curry soup

Vegetable curry

Simplest Indian curry mixture

Zucchini Spaghetti with Scallops in a Thai red curry

Beef Stew with light gnocchi

Singaporean laksa soup