Skip to main content

The Power Couple: Turmeric & Black Pepper






Anyone who grew up in an Indian household knows about the magic of Haldi Doodh. Simply translated, it’s Turmeric Milk. As a child, whenever I felt the sniffles coming on, when the forehead started to feel a little bit warm, my mother would make me a tall glass of this yellow elixir. It was creamy, slightly sweet with little spicy kick and it warmed me from the inside out from the very first sip itself. The recipe is ridiculously simple. Warmed up milk mixed with turmeric, honey and a pinch of ginger powder and a light sprinkling black pepper. So simple yet so effective. It remains my go to beverage when I feel a little low energy spell happening. It’s a home made remedy that's an instant and magical cure.

I have now come to realize, what was once grandma’s remedy is now the next big scientific breakthrough. Scientists now claim that Curcumin, the active ingredient in Turmeric, is a natural anti-inflammatory compound and is a potent antioxidant. It can increase the antioxidant capacity of the body and may help in lowering the risk of heart disease and cancer. And the list goes on. Curcumin is believed to be effective in fighting Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with Arthritis respond well to it. Curcumin even has benefits against depression. Simply put, this spice that stains everything in your kitchen yellow, from your countertops to your cutting boards, can actually improve your quality of life.

But there’s a caveat with respect to Curcumin. Something known as bio availability that refers to the rate at which the body absorbs a particular substance. Unfortunately the rate at which Curcumin is absorbed into the bloodstream is rather poor. You would need to consume copious amounts of Turmeric to derive any form of health benefits. That's when Black Pepper comes to the rescue. The active compound Piperine found in Black Pepper is known to enhance the absorption of Curcumin by 2000%. Now isn’t that something? And all this time, I thought Grandma was adding black pepper just for flavor and an additional kick. This culinary move was rooted in science. Our ancestors knew something that modern science is only starting to figure out today.

Curcumin is also fat soluble, which means it breaks down in a fat medium. Now Turmeric Milk is starting to make a lot more sense. As Curcumin breaks down in milk fat, and when combined with black pepper, it gets quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, administering a healthy dose of antioxidant power to the body. No wonder it takes just one glass of it and I start to feel better immediately.

There are so many things we are discovering today in Eastern diets that make food serve as medicine. While this may astonish and surprise us, our ancestors regarded this as common knowledge. As we look for solutions to save ourselves and this planet, I think it’s time to start looking at the Indian grandma’s recipe book. Who knows what else we might find?  All I can say is that our ancestors had a lot more knowledge than we gave them credit for. I believe the time has come for us cooks to dig in a little deeper. I am sure the planet will be a lot more grateful to us as a result.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Sindhi Kadhi Experience

  Being the cultural melting pot of a city that it is, Mumbai is known for its opulent and extravagant food scene. However no restaurant can capture the warmth, authenticity and love of a home cooked meal. One of my most cherished memories of my Mumbai trip was a true Sindhi dining experience, thanks to the gracious invitation to dinner by my Sindhi school friend, Deepak Choithramani.  The Sindhi people originally hail from the province of Sindh, an area of great historical significance dating back to the Indus Valley civilization of 2500 BCE which is now in modern day Pakistan. This was a thriving community the country’s Independence in 1947. The partition caused the displacement of hordes of Hindu Sindhis, who were forced to flee to India to avoid persecution, forced conversion and genocide. They settled in many parts of northwestern India, primarily Gujarat and Maharashtra, and started their lives from scratch. In just a few decades of that happening, the Sindhis  esta...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Kinship with American Tea

The Plantations of the American South are an important aspect of her history. At the height of slavery, there were something like 46,000 plantations stretching across the southern states, according to the National Humanities center. The mild temperate climate, plentiful rainfall and fertile soil contributed to the reasons why these operations flourished. That and abundant enforced slave labor at that time. When traveling through South Carolina, a visit to a Plantation is featured on every tourist’s to do list, which is what I chose to do during my recent visit to the Palmetto state. The plantation I chose to visit was the Charleston Tea Garden; the only existing tea plantation in the United States. For some strange reason, I felt a deep connection to my heritage and my roots while I was there. The start of America’s story with Tea began around the 1770s, as an effort to meet the ever increasing British demand for tea at that time.   Tea plantations had been cultivated in large sca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Alphonso: The Undisputed King of Mangoes

  For most desi immigrants, travel to India happens primarily  over the Christmas vacation. The work cycle and demands of the school schedule make winter pretty much the only time to visit family back home. There is one huge drawback to visiting India during this time period. You miss out on feasting on the true king of fruit; the Mango. In India, mangoes come into season Mid April and are available until the end of June. Mangoes are the true indicator that summer has finally arrived. The down side for the Desi who chose to immigrate is having to say goodbye to the pleasure of this summer delight. It was a family emergency that brought me back home at this time of the year. Being my first time visiting India in summer in 24 years, you bet I have a lot of mango catching up to do! Many will argue till blue in the face about which mango variety is the best. The Goans insist it’s the Mankurad variety while the residents of West Bengal swear by the Himsagar. But a true Mumbaikar ca...
1 comment
Read more