How To Get Some Turmeric Into Your Life in 7 Low-Key Ways
by Jenny Jiles
As you know, turmeric in America is really having a moment. A very extended, aggressive, wellnessy moment. In fact, it might finally be waning on the trend cycle, but for us, it’s an ingredient we will champion long after the internet tires of it as the newest “it” fad.
Turmeric, a root which originated in India, has been thought to have natural healing properties for everything from sinusitis, vertigo, and diarrhea to rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Its active ingredient, curcumin, has significant anti-inflammatory properties similar to those found in ibuprofen. Yep. If you have headaches, menstrual cramps, arthritis, try dipping a toe into the easy waters of turmeric. Oh, and feel free to ignore the following list and just buy cheap, turmeric shots from Trader Joe’s because really why not?
But as we are all cooking from home now in a social-quarantine, here are 7 low-key ways to use it:
Throw It In Rice
Rice doesn’t have to be bland and boring and stupid. Prepare your homemade rice exactly the way you normally would, but substitute water with chicken broth, and add a few vigorous shakes of ground turmeric. You’ll be met with a beautiful beacon of bright, yellow goodness that will inspire you to make more “grain bowls” to post on Instagram to win the approval of strangers!
Fling It Haphazardly Into Eggs
Scrambled, omelettes, frittatas— they all become brighter and slightly more earthy after a few shakes of turmeric. You don’t have to fuss or measure here, just know that turmeric and eggs have a deep symbiosis that you might begin to crave.
Homemade Dressings
Turmeric can be gorgeous in a simple vinaigrette – a few shakes of turmeric and ginger into your everyday olive oil and vinegar dressing is bright and unexpected and can elevate the hell out of a salad. Even better, try adding some ground turmeric into any homemade tahini dressing recipe, and drizzle that on your leftover roasted vegetables for a moment of memorable culinary prowess.
Easy Curry
If you, like me, would like to die by way of drowning in a giant bowl of Thai Curry Soup, I present to you my 20-minute homemade version that’s deeply addictive. The recipe calls for a fresh knob of turmeric, but you can eeeeasily swap it for a few hefty shakes from the spice jar. Recipe here.
Lemon Ginger Turmeric Tea
Hot water, a big squeeze of lemon juice, and a slice of fresh ginger, and you have ginger tea. No overpriced tea bag required. To up the ante, drop in a slice of fresh turmeric, a sprinkle of pepper, and you’re winning cold and flu season with essentially zero effort.
Turmeric Pills
If you want all of the benefits and none of the work, take a pill! There are lots of brands out there, but I like Vani Hari aka Food Babe. She is excruciatingly exacting about ingredient efficacy, and hers come with black pepper – which is believed to help their absorption into the body. You can get them here or on Amazon.
Root Turmeric Tonic
Anecdotally, I, your everyday health-witch author, used to DROWN myself in Vive Organic Immunity Boost drinks the moment I felt the first whisper of a cold coming on. Is there hard evidence to back this up as legit and not total placebo? There isn’t! Has it worked every damn near time I’ve tried it? It has!
So I hacked a homemade version: I toss a small knob of unpeeled turmeric into a powerful blender, throw in a whole peeled orange, finish with a few cranks of fresh pepper, and strain into a glass. It’s cheaper than any packaged tonic or shot, is honestly more delicious, and I can brag to my friends that I make “homemade tonics” so everybody wins. And now you can, too.
Jenny is a writer, cooking coach, and host of Cliffs Notes Kitchen, where she shows how simple, bite-sized shifts with minimal effort, can create lasting changes in your health. You can find more of her articles here.
