My love affair with Turmeric

Originating from southwest India, turmeric is part of the ginger family (all those bobbly bits, yup, I can tell they're brothers!) It has a wonderful earthy, sweet, bitter taste, which can be used in sweet and savoury dishes and drinks.  Turmeric is used fresh or ground in cooking, teas, beauty products, but most interestingly used in medicines in Ayurvedic and Unani systems, dating back to 250BC!!  (I have no idea how my sources know that, but that's a loooooooong time ago!)  So its isn't one of these new 'SUPERFOODS' that we have swarming the supermarket shelves today. Turmeric is up there in the ranks of the SUPERFOODs of the old world.



Organic Ground and Fresh Turmeric

Back in the day, my husband and I used to make, or buy take away currys and foods that had turmeric in them and would have the conversation, 'geez if it can stain your hands and counter like that, what's it doing to your insides?"  Little did I know exactly what it was doing to our insides.

Turmeric has an active ingredient in it called Curcumin. Curcumin is a compound with powerful anti inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  But curcumin isn't easily absorbed into the bloodstream, so to help it jump onto the red roller coaster, we have to give it something to ride on. That something is can be ginger, pepper and some say coconut oil too.  Adding either of these amazing spices or oils to turmeric helps bind the curcumin into the bloodstream and that badboy gets distributed throughout the body, throwing out anti oxidants and anti inflammatory goodness everywhere.
Some studies have shown that curcumin can:-

• Reduce the growth of cancerous cells by making changes on the molecular level, which could lead to prevention or perhaps treatment.
• Boosts brain health by increasing the growth of new neurons and fights degenerative processes in the brain.
• Helps arthritis and joint pain, so much so that in some cases it is more effective than an anti inflammatory prescribed drug. (check with your doc before making any rash changes to your meds)
• Helps battle depression by boosting brain neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine.
• Can normalizes insulin and triglyceride levels while boosting antioxidant defenses. By keeping triglyceride and insulin levels low effectively reduces your risk for numerous health conditions like metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and – you guessed it – diabetes.

I do truly love the taste of turmeric and have become slightly obsessed with it lately. So much so that one day I may resemble Marg Simpson, minus the fantastic hair.
Seriously though, you can pop this baby into smoothies, porridge, stews and even bedtime milk, no one will be any the wiser, but their insides will thank you for it.

Turmeric porridge

Turmeric and Cinnamon Nut Butter

Turmeric Tea with Ginger, Lemon and Tulsi Basil






My favourite drink Turmeric Tisane.
(Available to purchase locally)

Raw Nutella

This is a recipe I adapted from lots of different post around the www.com.  Many of them had a pretty huge qty of sugar added. Natural sugar in the form of Maple Syrup or Coconut Syrup, but still high in sugar regardless.
So here I cut the amount of maple syrup and added in coconut oil (has a little sweetness going on there and is really good for your to boot) and swapped water for milk. The water milk swap occurred when my 4 year old screwed up his face at the taste of this little jar of goodness. I loved it, but then I'm on that wagon, where I realise that mums Nutella doesn't have to taste 'exactly' like the actual Nutella. Try telling that to him!! So I had a little play around with adding in almond milk and hey presto.....................................shop bought Nutella taste approved by Fearghas! Whoop!

So here it is and please alter it to suit you or your kids needs. Add a little more sweetener, reduce the cocoa or keep the water instead of the milk.

2 cups of Hazelnuts
1/4 cup of Maple Syrup
3tbs of Cacao powder
1-2tbs of Milk (cows, almond, oat etc)
1tbs Organic Coconut Oil


Toast the hazelnuts in the oven for 10mins @350def F.
Pop them in a food processor for 5-10mins, scraping down the sides as the nuts break up.
Once you have a nut paste, add in the maple syrup, cocoa and coconut oil. Blend to incorporate and then gradually add the milk till you have your desired consistency. I like it not too thick, but thick enough to melt on hot buttered toast.

Spread on toast, mix into hot chocolate, add in more milk to make a nutty sauce for pancakes.................or just spoon it right out the jar!

This keeps for around 2 weeks in the fridge. It does spoil as it doesn't have a high sugar content. It wont last that long though, especially if your kids get their hands on it.

Enjoy.....