Turmeric and Its Uses

Turmeric is a plant (commonly used in its powder root form) that is part of the ginger family and originates from South Asia, growing wild in the forests there. Its main producer is the Kasur district in Pakistan, thought it was formerly Erode in India, which gained the name ‘Turmeric City’. It is bright orange in colour and has some very useful properties.

As spices go, Turmeric is really quite remarkable. It is used widely in curries in Thailand, India, Nepal and Peru because of its distinctive taste and smell, which is defined as slightly bitter, distinctly early. and a little hot peppery by Wikipedia. It also smells quite like mustard. Turmeric is used for colouring cloth, but not widely, as it quite poor for setting, and is more used as a food colouring, going by E100.

Though usually used in powder form, turmeric leaves are used in counties where they are produced to wrap or present food. They add a distinct flavoring to food when fresh.

An astounding thing about turmeric is that it is found to have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, and is often used in traditional Indian medicines. Its potential has quite recently been discovered, and turmeric can be found in a variety of products like sunscreens and some anti-bacterial creams. A research in 2010 of curcumim, found in turmeric, suggests that curcumim improves drug responses of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Curcumin can be used like a universal indicator, turning red in acidic substances and yellow in alkaline. There have been other speculations on the medical and scientific uses of turmeric but I leave you that to investigate yourself, as it’s a wide field.

Turmeric has a lot of prestige in skin care as well. Turmeric face masks help even the skin tone by slightly dying or bleaching the skin, depending on other ingredients, and work towards preventing spot outbreaks. Face masks for the skin are best mixed with lemon or lime juice to attain a full effect. Because of these benefits, Asian wives would cover their bodies with turmeric paste the night before their wedding to achieve a healthy glow, and have extra smooth skin for the event. Tumeric is slowly becoming more popular with major make-up and face care brands.

Other notable its use as a dye to make rice and some wines look slightly golden, and its use in a lot in commercial foods for rich yellow taints, mentioned earlier as E100. It is often used as a substitute for saffron, as it is cheaper and tastes roughly the same.

Sources

Wikipedia

Livestrong article on face masks