It's a rhizome, like ginger but it looks a little grub-like when you see it - and not terribly appetizing....Anyhow, I scraped off the outer layer with a spoon (also the best way to remove the "skin" from ginger) and grated some on my salad, using a microplane.
I often sprinkle the dried ground spice on salads as it has so many health benefits so thought this would be a good test, without cooking it.
A couple of points to note. The smell as you grate it is divine. So pungent. Makes you just want to eat it right away.
The vibrant orange color is gorgeous - but also quite persistent...says she typing with orange finger tips and a microplane that is now stained orange in the center!!!
But the taste is wonderful. As a spice used in many curries, it doesn't remind me of curry flavors in it's fresh form. Just interesting flavors that change the longer it is in your mouth. It opens up many more uses to me - I can see myself adding it to cookies, creating a buzz like the little pink peppercorn cookies did.....
It is such a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-metastatic agent - especially if eaten with pepper. Interestingly enough, I was recently reading about a curcumin supplement (which is a compound in turmeric) that had higher absorption rates than regular curcumin supplements which as normally very low. I wanted to find out what they had done to increase it's absorption. The secret was that they included more of the other compounds in turmeric in the formulation i.e. they made it more like the whole food instead of an isolate! Seems a perfect result that suggests that you eat the whole food and forget the supplement!
But don't go overboard with your consumption. Your maximum intake should be 1 tsp a day because turmeric has high levels of oxalates in it, which can increase your risk of painful kidney stones.
Did you try a new food this week?
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1 comments:
Hope the fingers have lost their orange color by now!
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