Turmeric is great for our general well-being and is an excellent healer, but I just found out that there are some fillers and nasty colouring in most of the cheaper turmeric powders that are no good for our health.
I love a turmeric milk (golden milk, golden latte) at night – for a good night sleep and for a general boost in health and vitality. Turmeric milk is a delicious and easy way to increase my turmeric intake each day. I do try to have turmeric in most of my meals – grated onto breakfast, in fresh juices, in salad dressings, in curries, soups, marinades and so on.
Turmeric milk is a traditional Ayurvedic drink from India that is becoming increasingly popular at cafes. I see more cafes offering it and more people enjoying it than every before. Recently I was reading about a cafe in England that said more people are choosing this over regular lattes.
The flavour of golden milk is similar flavour to chai – lightly spiced, and it’s actually super easy to make at home. This is one of the variations of golden milk I make.
Golden Milk Recipe
I play around with the spices a bit, and also the types of milk – I’ve found them all super delicious, and of course super healthy. This recipe is for 2 cups.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup organic coconut milk (or other milk – homemade almond milk is nice, oat milk …)
- 1 tsp organic turmeric powder or paste, or 2cm of fresh turmeric finely chopped/ground in mortar and pestle
- 1 tbsp virgin coconut oil (turmeric is fat-soluble, so the use of coconut milk and oil helps to increase its benefits).
- 1 tbsp honey (or stevia)
- 1 tsp cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 tsp roughly ground black peppercorn (the piperine enhances the absorption of curcumin by up to 2000%)
- a few slices of ginger (optional)
Method
- Place in a little saucepan and heat gently for a few minutes, not allowing to boil.
- You can make a bigger batch and keep in the fridge for the next few days – just warm it a little when you want to drink it.
A drink of golden milk is very soothing and nourishing. As well as building your immune system, it is good for healing an array of ailments including common colds, sore throat, indigestion, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, menstrual cramps, headaches and arthritis.
Warning: Your Turmeric May Be Toxic
The other day I wrote about taking care with using almond milk (often used in golden milk) because of it’s ecological impact (check the link here). Today I wanted to share some shocking information I just came across about turmeric powder – a serious health concern that I think everyone should know. “Oh no…”, I can hear you say, “not that too!”
It has come to my attention that lot of standard and cheaper turmeric powders have added fillers – some common ones are saw dust, rice flour, starch, chalk…
Of MORE concern however are the colour dyes used to give the fillers the turmeric colour – metanil yellow colour (E105 – a synthetic colour not approved for human consumption as it may cause nerve damage and is carcinogenic), cadium and lead chromate are most common colours used.
Because of the information above, I do HIGHLY recommend you choose one of the below for all of your turmeric needs:
- grow your own fresh turmeric (Curcuma longa) or
- buy fresh organic turmeric or organic turmeric paste
- buy authentic organic turmeric powder which is guaranteed not to be adulterated.
Another great post Morag, thank you! Can you recommend a good brand of turmeric powder? I've never actually read the ingredient list on the packet, should it state if it contains fillers?
The sure way to know you are not getting fillers/additives is buying organic.
I know that heat degrades it's value, I'm not sure about the freezing. You would think it'd be fine. I find storing it in a cool bucket of sand keeps it really well. The texture and firmness also is retained this way, as well as the aliveness.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016SPIE.9864E..0AD
http://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/5/2/36/pdf
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/detection-of-nonpermitted-food-colors-in-edibles-2157-7145-1000S4-003.php?aid=62204
Can you please provide a source for the claim that E105 is used as an additive in Turmeric, I thought it was banned
sounds delicious, didn't know that about the pepper pity i can't eat it (burns) i buy organic turmeric from the mudbrick cottage down near brisbane somewhere… i have turmeric tea sometimes & find lemon juice helps with the texture
looking forward to the 'how to grow', have trouble growing it here
thanx for sharing
Thank you for the "heads up" Morag. Just defrosted some previously dried tumeric. Hope freezing doesn't alter the nutritional value.
I have made Golden Milk in winter and it is very tasty. We grow our own turmeric so use that. I froze some to add to our meals etc. last year but must grow some more so that we have plenty as it is so good for our health.
I recently made up a mix that had all these ingredients and also cocoa -it is such a delicious drink – of course now that it is finished I cannot find the original recipe. I definitely will make more use of my fresh turmeric with the thought that powdered mix might have additives. thanks you for your wonderful posts – I always learn something new!
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