Me Sew Crafty: My Turmeric Milk Recipe

**I am sipping some right now as I write this post.** Turmeric is a very healthy and important spice to have in your arsenal. It is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and can be used in many ways. Lately, there have been numerous reports on the Internet about tumeric and it's great healing properties. Turmeric is also known as curcumin, which is the active ingredient in it.

I never knew about this powerful spice until last year when my daughter Dawn came home for a visit. We we shopping at WalMart and she bought a bottle of turmeric. I asked her later what she had bought it for because we weren't cooking anything that would require that spice. She said that turmeric has great healing properties and she was making tea with it. Well, months go by and on Facebook a lot of blogs that I follow were posting about turmeric and how great a spice it is. BTW, always buy your spices at a store that sells them in bulk (natural food stores), those are fresher and are rotated constantly by the people who buy them, and you can buy them by the ounce. The spices in your grocery store have been sitting there for who knows how long and you have to buy what you see.

This is what turmeric looks like. It looks very similar to ginger root, except it's a pretty orange color.

The first recipe I ever came across is from Lexie's Kitchen (update: link is broken). I really like that she tied turmeric to Hawaii (where I'm from). Her blog post talks about how turmeric or 'olena as the Hawaiians would say came to Hawaii. Her recipe is fabulous and worth trying - this really got me hooked into this awesome drink.

Another blog post is from Mark's Daily Apply. This is another blog I follow and he includes other recipes you can make with this wonderful spice. Mark uses real ginger and adds cayenne instead of using peppercorns.

Well, since making this milk for months now, I have come up with my own recipe. I use almond milk (original flavor), but you can use whatever milk you drink. I bumped up the ginger amount, because ginger is warming and I like it. I also increased the cinammon to a 1/4 teaspooon, another warming spice. I don't use a sweetener.

What I really like about this recipe is that it is caffeine free and can be dairy free if you use almond, coconut, rice or soy milk. On a cold night, you can drink this before going to bed and it will warm you up.

My success to this recipe is to constantly stir while the ingredients are being incorporated. If you don't stir, the spice will gum up be very thick in the bottom of your mug - you stir only for five minutes and it goes by real fast. Also, I tried to up the amount for turmeric to a full teaspoon and it didn't work, it was too much. You can also double the recipe like Lexie has done. Here is my recipe for turmeric milk:

You will need:

1 cup of almond milk

1/2 tsp. of turmeric

1/2 tsp. of ground ginger

1/4 tsp. of ground cinnamon

about 4-5 grinds of freshly ground peppercorns

1/2 tsp. of sugar or honey (optional) - I don't use any

Place all the ingredients into a small saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for five minutes, constantly stirring.

UPDATE 12/2018: I now use cashew milk - I have since become sensitive to almond milk and almonds.