12 April 13 • MAV

Since a dear friend sent me this beautiful link to a Turmeric Lassi, I have not been able to stop thinking about turmeric.

I’m guessing most of you already know about the wonderful “anti” powers of turmeric (it’s an antioxidant + anti-inflammatory + anti-bacterial; plus it’s a great liver supporter not to mention an energy booster), but for me it has been more about the taste and the color. Right now, I’m really feeling the high-energy yellow!

While I can’t really have milk or nut milks, they just don’t agree with me, I still enjoy drinking my turmeric. My way, however, is in a hot or room-temperature tea. (You can even make and chill this and it’s still really wonderful.)

Spiced Turmeric Tea
tea pouch/net
1 teaspoon turmeric
2–5 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 lemon wedge
2–3 thick slices fresh ginger
honey to taste

To keep things clean and tidy in the mug, I like to put my turmeric into a tea pouch. So, go ahead and put 1 teaspoon turmeric in and knot it off. Add the pouch and the rest of the ingredients to your mug, except honey. Boil some water and add it to the mug; add honey. Stir well and let sit for about 10 minutes. Put your feet up and enjoy!

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Turmeric is also a killer natural dye. Because it’s so strong you don’t even need to mordant your fabric, although you can for a stronger color. I was feeling ready for a little yellow in my wardrobe this week (honesty, it doesn’t look that great on me with my complexion but who cares, I needed the pick me up!), so I took my Beauty & Use V-Tee No. 3 and dyed it yellow.

Simple Turmeric Dye
2–5 teaspoons turmeric
fabric
pot

Add turmeric to the pot with lots of water, bring to a boil. Add your fabric and leave it there to simmer for anywhere from 1–8 hours depending on complexity of color desired. Shoot, you can even leave it overnight! But don’t leave your burner on, of course. I only left my V-Tee in for 1 hour! To get the muddled effect I left it folded up tight the entire time it was in the water. I didn’t stir. I just plopped it in and left it for an hour and that was that.

I even threw a towel in with the V-Tee when I washed it and it was gently dyed as well. Yellow: I love you right now!

One word of warning: Be sure you wash your turmeric-dyed item several times by itself. The yellow will come off for some time (just like indigo does) so you’re better off to wash it alone or with things that you want to be a faded yellow themselves.

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While I didn’t get a photograph of it, I also used turmeric for dinner in a spice mix with some veggies that were roasted this week. I added 1 teaspoon turmeric, cumin and coriander with garlic, lemon slices and olive oil, and tossed it with my veggies. They were then roasted and enjoyed with some simple poached chicken and homemade focaccia (recipe for the focaccia is coming in 3191 Quarterly, Issue No. 11, out on May 17th). Delicious!

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Now, mind you, I don’t think pregnant women and people with some health issues are suppose to have a lot of turmeric, so I’d look that up in your best natural foods book if you’re in those categories, but really, I encourage you to bring a little turmeric yellow energy into your life! And, please let us take a peek at your turmeric dye jobs by emailing them to our 3191 Album at photos(at)3191milesapart.com.