To prepare turmeric powder, is a ritual in my home, that I follow religiously. I have never used store-bought turmeric powder at all except this corona time when it is almost impossible to get turmeric rhizomes in our area. I prefer doing this, the reason being the presence of adulterants.
Turmeric powder that you buy from the market may contain adulterants. The most common organic adulterants in turmeric powder are other species of the Curcuma genus, which have some curcumin content and near-identical yellow colour and thus these very easily escape the detection process. Mixing such adulterants lowers the quality.
These organic adulterants do not cause much harm to health but then there are other chemical adulterants which are potentially toxic chemicals and may affect our health badly. Adulterants like Lead Chromate, Metanil Yellow, chalk powder, Sudan Red (to name a few) are strong oxidising agents which release toxins, when get heated during cooking. Almost all have carcinogenic abilities (cancer-causing). Adulterated food causes both physical and mental disorders along with malnutrition.
So It’s always better to prepare turmeric powder at home. Believe me, it does not require much effort. If you intend to prepare it too, please follow the below-given steps:
Choosing the Right Turmeric
Pay attention when buying turmeric. Try to select big, smooth dried roots that are mould (fungus)-free. Dried turmeric also needs a good amount of sunlight to get crisp. If it is not dried crisp, you will not be able to powder it finely.
You may break it into small pieces before drying, this makes drying easier. Don’t forget to cover it with a muslin cloth or mesh to prevent dust from settling on top. (you may buy fresh turmeric also and dry that but it takes a lot of time)
Grinding Turmeric
Once dry, grind the turmeric using mortar and pestle at home or you can get it done from food mill ( chakki) too. Strain the powder, and grind larger pieces time and again till the time you get fine powder. At the end you can grind it in your mixer to get a very fine powder.
Storing Turmeric Powder
After grinding the turmeric powder, spread it on a plate to cool completely. Once cool, tightly pack the powder in airtight glass bottles. If the quantity is more, put some salt to avoid insect infestation.
What are the Health Benefits of Turmeric?
More than 6,000 clinical studies have proved turmeric as a number healing herb. it has numerous health benefits which are given below:
- It contains compounds with medicinal properties called curcuminoids (these compounds are natural phenols and produce a pronounced yellow colour), the most important of which is curcumin.
- Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. However, the curcumin content of turmeric is not that high. It’s around 3%, by weight only. So you can also take a supplement that contains significant amounts of curcumin to get its full effect.
- Curcumin’s bioavailability is also less, so gets poorly absorbed into the bloodstream. It’s better to consume it with black pepper, which contains piperine, a natural substance that enhances the absorption of curcumin by almost 1800 – 2,000%.
- Curcumin is fat-soluble, so it is always good to take it with a fatty meal to increase its absorption.
- Curcumin is a bioactive substance that fights inflammation and this inflammation plays a major role in almost every chronic disease like heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome and various degenerative conditions.
- Curcumin is a potent antioxidant that can neutralise free radicals. It is also known to stimulate your body’s own antioxidant defences. Curcumin is as effective as an antidepressant. It is helpful in reversing many brain diseases and age-related problems in brain function especially Alzheimer’s disease.
- Research has shown curcumin’s effectiveness in delaying ageing.
How to test at home if Turmeric powder is adulterated?
- One of the easiest ways to check adulteration is to add a teaspoon of turmeric to a glass of warm water. Do not stir it and leave it still for a while. Check after about 20 minutes. If the powder settles down at the bottom of the glass with clear water above, the turmeric is pure. Cloudy water indicates possible adulteration.
- To detect the presence of lead chromate, mix a teaspoon of turmeric powder with water. If adulterated, it will immediately leak streaks of water-soluble colour.
- You would require concentrated hydrochloric acid for this (you can buy from the chemist). Take some turmeric powder in transparent glass and add a few drops of water and concentrated hydrochloric acid to it. Shake it vigorously. The pink colour in the mixture indicates the presence of metanil yellow. If the mixture releases small bubbles, it indicates the presence of chalk powder.
