8 Ways to Eat and Drink Turmeric
The versatility of turmeric is unmatched by most of the spices in your pantry. Salt and pepper might help to awaken bland food, but you probably wouldn’t add either to your coffee. Turmeric, on the other hand, blends with almost everything, helping to add an earthy, rich, and warming flavor.
Turmeric also comes with many potential health support effects, like providing support for a healthy inflammation response, supporting the immune system, adding vitality to your mind and body, helping the heart, and keeping your gut functioning the right way. Many people have even found it useful for the health of their pets.
Using turmeric is easy too. Supplements provide one way to get turmeric into your body, but they don’t let you enjoy the flavor. To add turmeric spice to your daily diet, you’ll need either the whole root or already prepared turmeric powder. If you buy the root, you can dry it out and grind it into a powder, or slice it and add it to your sautee, soups, or just about any of your favorite dishes. For drinks, stick with the powder.
Ways to Eat and Drink Turmeric
- Tea - The best way to infuse your tea with turmeric is to add it to the simmering water. Add any spices you want, like nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, then add turmeric and continue heating the water for up to 10 minutes, then strain to avoid clumpiness. To make green tea, add your tea leaves for up to 3 minutes.
- Coffee – Just like tea, add turmeric to your favorite coffee bean when heating the water. Make sure to strain the mixture.
- Smoothie – Add turmeric to a morning superfood smoothie to get the energy you need for the day. Add kale, spinach, collards, a frozen banana, coconut water, almond butter, flax oil, ground cinnamon, and turmeric in a blender the puree. See the full recipes at TheKitchn.com.
- Golden Milk – Creamy, spicy, and very delicious, golden milk is one of the most popular ways to enjoy the benefits of turmeric. You’ll need coconut milk, almond milk, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, coconut oil, black pepper, and sweetener of choice. Mix and heat the mixture, then enjoy. See the full recipes at MinimalistBaker.com.
- Curry – Cultures all around the world have put a unique spin on curry, but the one consistent ingredient is turmeric, which gives it that familiar bright orange color. The color and spiciness of curry can vary depending on the other ingredients, like chili powder, peppercorn, and cinnamon. Try making a batch via AllRecipes.com.
- Roasted veggies – After cutting your vegetables and drizzling them with oil, sprinkle with turmeric then put it in the oven. The flavor of turmeric often works best on starchy vegetables that don’t have a lot of natural flavors.
- Homemade mustard – Mustard is a unique beast that at one end is simply yellow dressing made with vinegar and mustard seed, or a carefully prepared delicacy with wine, beer, and a mixture of spices. Honest-Food.net has an interesting recipe that requires about 15 minutes of prep, but will last you a year and add a lot of flavor to your food.
- Seasoning – Keep a shaker full of powdered turmeric in the kitchen at all time, and don’t be afraid to mix it in with everything you cook.
Discover an Amazing Spice
Start with adding just a little turmeric to your favorite food or drink before going all in. Some people don’t immediately love the taste like they do with, say, ginger or cinnamon. Also, too much turmeric can cause digestive issue but these will pass with time and may even help with the function of your gut. But no matter how you enjoy turmeric, you’ll be enjoying both a unique flavor and many great health benefits!