Turmeric
Fresh turmeric, the dried powder, capsules with the dried powder and dehydrated turmeric pieces in the big jar.
This wonderful root is an amazing healer. It tends to grow abundantly in our garden, just like ginger. How do we get enough turmeric in our diet? It is strong tasting, so you cannot add too much in your food. Dehydrating is the solution for us!
We chop the fresh turmeric and place them on sheets in the dehydrator. We dehydrate at around 105 degrees F (around 40 degrees C) to ensure all the enzymes and goodness still stay intact. Once they are dehydrated, we store them in jars until we need to powder them. We powder the turmeric in our Vitamix blender using short bursts so it does not heat up the powder. We store the powder and use it for cooking or make our own (vegecaps) turmeric capsules. We use a “Cap m Quick” capsule filler and Hulda Herbs’ vege caps size 0. You can fill 50 capsules at the time. It is a bit time consuming and labour intensive, but then you can take 2 (or more) turmeric capsules with every meal, to enjoy the benefits of this wonderful spice.
According to this article https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/diet-nutrition/need-know-health-benefits-turmeric/, turmeric helps to ease inflammation, helps to prevent cancer, improves brain function, reduces need for medication, lowers blood sugar, helps ease joint pain and to reduce Crohn’s disease and IBS.
Or just Google “healing qualities of turmeric” to find out more on this amazing spice.
And of course, besides all the healing properties and ways you can add more to your diet by having capsules, it is also one of the ingredients in yummy Indian curry….
©2012 Permaculture Research Institute Sunshine Coast – Permaculture and self reliance: Uses for tumeric
Author: Zaia Kendall
Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!
I had an abundance of both ginger and turmeric at the same time, and no dehydrator. I peeled equal amounts of both and put them in the food processor, with a dollop of coconut oil and turned them into a think paste. I use it with rice or curry. I put some in the pumpkin pie a few days ago too and that was really yummy. I think it would also be good with honey and lemon in hot water as a cold remedy.
Thank you for mentioning the capsule filler. I make my own clove capsules, used as part of an anti-parasitic cleanse. I was doing them individually… yes with difficulty and time-consuming! I have now bought a capsule filler and will remember to make capsules with turmeric (hopefully next season). Thanks for that great idea!
How long do you leave the turmeric in the dehydrator for? 40ºC. Thanks
At least 24 hours. Depending on atmospheric conditions and your dehydrator, please continue to check hardness after 24 hours. To be able to grind them up well enough, they will need to be very dry. Thank you!
Reblogged this on Food, Health and Me.
Hello. I read in another article that you need to boil and peel the turmeric before putting in dehydrator, do you think this is necessary?
We have never done that and it has worked fine for us. I am not aware of any health benefits if you peel and boil them, or of any negative effects from not peeling or boiling. Did the other article say what the reason was for peeling and boiling?
No. They did not mention anything. I have done your method, I am down on grinding them today. I will be posting the process on our website too. Thank you. 🙂