{"id":6994,"date":"2018-05-15T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T10:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/?p=6994"},"modified":"2019-03-28T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T13:51:34","slug":"curcuma-super-spice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingy.com\/magazine\/curcuma-super-spice\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye on Ingredients: Curcuma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you already know how incredibly healthy curcuma is? At first, I was only familiar with the spice as the yellow-colored powdery ingredient in just about every curry recipe out there. To be completely honest with you, I even suspected that curcuma was merely a food colorant (seeing as it costs only a fraction of what saffron goes for in my local shops). I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong\u00a0\u2014 curcuma is actually a super spice with tons<\/em> of healing properties.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A bit of biology<\/h2>\n

Curcuma longa<\/em> is a flowering plant that belongs to the ginger family. The most well-known representative is curcuma\u00a0\u2014 and its name is a derivative of the word ‘kurkum’, which is Arabic for ‘saffron’. In German-speaking countries, it also goes by the names “Indian saffron” or turmeric.\u00a0A substance called curcumin<\/em> can be extracted from the roots of the flower and is commonly used as a yellow dye, being especially popular in the food industry. The dye is often written as E100<\/em> on food labels.<\/p>\n

At first glance, the curcuma turnip looks like ginger. However, it is actually bright orange on the inside, with varying yellow shades\u00a0\u2014 like colors found in curries, mustards, and egg yolks. The root of the plant contains about 3-6% of the dye substance curcumin and has anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. In terms of its composition, curcuma consists of 5% essential oils and 30-40% starch.<\/p>\n

A multi-purpose spice<\/h2>\n

For thousands of years, curcuma has been used in India and is considered to be holy in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. There are many cleansing and energizing effects attributed to this so-called “hot spice”\u00a0\u2014 like ginger, curcuma is known to aid in stimulating the digestive system: gastric & bile production are heightened, whereas blood fat levels are lowered. You can add curcuma to tea, sauces, vegetable dishes, soups, and smoothies \u2014 to name only a few!<\/p>\n

Curcuma-Mango Smoothie <\/strong><\/h4>\n

(for 2 servings)<\/em><\/p>\n