Cooking with Turmeric
 This plant is a typical member of the ginger
family, being a perennial plant which has a rhizome that has erect,
leafy shoots. Turmeric is used primarily in Arab-influenced dishes such
as mussaman (Muslim) curries and aromatic rice dishes that are cooked
with several different spices at once.
It is occasionally eaten raw by
the Thais and can have a very intense flavor. The powder (or the rhizome
sliced very thinly) is commonly used in curries. It is a good marinade
for fish as it counteracts the fishiness. Turmeric is commonly used in
southern Thai cooking.
The common name of this spice is frequently
misspelled and mispronounced as 'tumeric' rather than turmeric. The
scientific name of Curcuma longa is now generally accepted after a long
debate.
The main use of the turmeric is the rhizome,
which is used as a culinary spice, especially as a main constituent in
curry powders for Asian dishes. Fresh young rhizomes and shoots may be
eaten as a vegetable. The ground rhizome is used as a coloring agent in
confectionery, textile dyes, pharmaceuticals and processed foods. It is
also used as a cheap but excellent saffron substitute. Turmeric oil and
turmeric oleoresin have similar applications as the ground rhizome.
Rhizomes are used in cosmetics as well as in
traditional medicine as a blood 'purifier', a cure for the common cold
or skin infections, in treating purulent ophthalmia, and as a stomachic
and tonic. Rhizome extracts can also kill fungi, insects and nematodes.
This spice is best used freshly purchased
from the market. Clean the rhizome, blot dry with paper towels and then
wrap in dry paper towels in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator.
It should last for at least a week. Commercially, to improve the color
and enhance the fragrance, the cleaned rhizomes are boiled for an hour
in slightly alkaline water, dried in the sun or by hot air dryer for
about a week and polished to smoothen their surface.
Happy Cooking,
Carol |
