Turmeric has long been touted for its health benefits.  Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory and circulatory herb.  It improves blood flow, helps with digestive issues, and pain.  It is what I call a supporting actor in many of my medicines.  It helps all the other herbs do their jobs better.

I am not an advocate of pills.  Really, how many herbs can you stick in one little pill?  By the time you put in the other ingredients, and your stomach works its way through the pill you have practically zero plant medicine there.  Allow me to give you some ways to turn turmeric into amazing medicine that is accessible and bioavailable.

#1 Tea.  Oh, my favorite.  I usually just slice a bit from the end of a root and put it in my tea but while visiting my friend, Lisa, in California last week, she taught me a tremendous way to prepare turmeric.  Blend 2 Tablespoons of dried, powdered turmeric with 4 Tablespoons of water.  Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground pepper.  Pepper greatly enhances the bioavailability and effectiveness of turmeric.

Let’s face it, Folks, between pollution, pharmaceuticals, and our food system we all have some free radicals and inflammation to deal with.  So, every day I combine a scant teaspoon of this mixture with a Tablespoon of honey, a good squeeze of lemon, a basil or mint leaf, a chunk of ginger, and 12 ounces of boiling water to make it into tea.  Then I add a Tablespoon of coconut oil.  Wait, don’t let me lose you here!  It makes it taste ever more nurturing, the sweet creamy flavor with the spicy herbs, and the fat makes the antioxidants from the plants more bioavailable.  Delicious.

#2 Vinegar extract.  Place a 2 inch chunk of ginger root and a 2 inch chunk of turmeric root with a touch of pepper in a pint jar of organic apple cider vinegar.  Replace lid and put in window for two weeks.  Add maple syrup for taste and take a teaspoon a day or add to recipes or tea.

#3 Alcohol extract.  Do the very same thing but in a pint jar of vodka, rum, or brandy.  The alcohol is sharper but it sure pulls the medicine right out of the plants!  A teaspoon in a shot glass of orange juice is a scant amount of alcohol and a very effective way to transport the medicine.

No matter how you take it, turmeric is there to help you, as are all plants.