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turmeric ancient medicine or modern fad
however you think of it I can promise
you this after watching this episode of
how does it grow you'll never look at
turmeric the same way again
you may have noticed that I say turmeric
not tumeric even though no dictionary
recognizes tumeric as a primary
pronunciation it's somehow thrust itself
into common usage however there is
contrary to popular belief and are
before the M therefore I pronounce it
turmeric the original way now if you
speak Arabic or Spanish Italian or
German then your word for turmeric is a
version of the word curcumin mm-hmm
that's supposed to be a you-now curcumin
is the main healthful ingredient in the
spice the thing that gives turmeric its
antibiotic and anti-inflammatory
properties we in the West have only
recently woken up to the superfood
powers of turmeric something our Eastern
brothers and sisters have known for
centuries in India and Southeast Asia
turmeric native territory it's used as
medicine as much as a culinary
ingredient in Indonesia Jammu is a
popular tonic made with turmeric and
ginger and tamarind while in parts of
India Bangladesh and Pakistan warm milk
laced with turmeric is a mother's elixir
to fend off children's colds and other
ailments and now we Americans and
Europeans are lapping up the turmeric
golden lattes in fancy coffee shops too
now India is the world's top producer
and consumer of turmeric it's deep
golden color has elevated it into the
realm of the divine turmeric water is
used to anoint deities turmeric paste is
rubbed into the skin of brides and
grooms before marriage to represent
purity fertility and prosperity buddhist
monks robes were once dyed in turmeric
now in 1947 when India became an
independent nation it had to design a
flag it shows green for its fertile land
it shows white symbolizing truth and to
represent
rifice it shows an indigenous and sacred
color turmeric only they don't
officially call that color turmeric they
use turmeric other name Indian saffron
turmeric grows underground
it's the subterranean stem of a plant in
the ginger family saffron on the other
hand comes from the thin delicate
stigmas of the autumn crocus only three
to four saffron threads grow in a single
flower which makes saffron the most
expensive spice in the world saffron and
turmeric have been connected throughout
history thanks to their similar golden
hues when dried and ground the two
spices are easily confused sometimes
innocently sometimes deceitfully the
fraudulent sale of turmeric as saffron
is a problem as old as the spice trade
in 15th century Germany they really took
it seriously the crime was punishable by
death
you'd be either burned at the stake or
buried alive
but enough about punishments let's talk
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because yes all proceeds go to the
making of these episodes so get chopping
but first go find out how turmeric grows
today food makers use turmeric to cut
corners and trick the eye they use it to
add a golden color to margarine mustard
cheddar cheese or chicken broth but to
me the worst offender are packets of
yellow rice but that's not doing
turmeric that justice it deserves
Tariq's qualities go way beyond it's
sunny color ask any Indian in fact over
100 of you answered in my You Tube
community section that Indian dishes are
incomplete without turmeric turmeric
alone has an earthy mildly bitter flavor
but when it works in concert with other
ingredients it can help balance a dish
but I know I know what you want to know
you want to know turmeric how does it
grow and can you eat it fresh amazingly
here in the mid-atlantic region of the
United States far from its native
tropical habitat this wind is so cold
turmeric is a specialty crop rising in
popularity and I happen to live near a
firm that's been growing it for a few
seasons
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at two Gander farm in Downingtown
Pennsylvania wife and husband Deirdre
and Trey Fleming grow ten acres of
organic specialty crops
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they use high tunnels to extend the
growing season enabling crops to get
started earlier in the spring and to
keep producing deeper into the fall the
Fleming's dedicate an entire tunnel to
ginger and turmeric plants in the same
botanical family they both grow a root
like structure that we eat but that's
where the similarities end
look at these giant leaves some of them
are taller than me turmeric requires
true commitment it takes from early
March all the way through to October
before you get a crop worth harvesting
here and unlike ginger turmeric spends
most of its energy growing these massive
leaves only when ginger is already being
harvested does turmeric transfer its
energy from what's happening above
ground to what's happening below ground
bulking up its rhizomes rhizomes
I didn't say roots what's the difference
let's go meet train the greenhouse to
find out kind of cool so this is how it
all begins yes okay first I want to know
what's the difference between a rhizome
and a root a rhizome is the part of the
plants where it's storing the energy the
rhizome is also the part of the plant
that we eat while the inedible roots
those thin wiry looking things work like
straws sucking up water and nutrients
from the soil turmeric farmers don't
plant seed they plant seed pieces or
mothers they're pieces of mature rhizome
that will sprout into new plants and
grow a new crop of rhizomes now Trey and
Deirdre get their seed pieces from a
grower in Hawaii whose methods are so
controlled that he can guarantee the
seed pieces are disease-free it's
important because there are diseases
that can come in with ginger and
turmeric that you don't want to spread
into your soil it's impossible to get
rid of them so you have your seed pieces
what do you do with them well we want to
get them into some soil mix here
so we can pack them in really tightly
we'll put them in a single layer they
need just enough soil to keep them moist
they need to be really warm to break
dormancy so we're getting this in
February and not warm no it's not even
warm enough in here in the greenhouse
right away so we put this into a special
chamber and keep it at 85 degrees and
for the turmeric it might be up to six
weeks before we start to see any signs
of life it is completely nerve-racking
the first time I ever grew this I ended
up calling them in Hawaii and asking
them like is this ever gonna happen am i
doing something wrong
and they said no have patience go ahead
and plant them even if they're not
sprouting yet put them in the greenhouse
and yeah they came up ok so then once
they start to sprout that's when you
transplant them into the high tunnel yes
okay so then let's go over there sure
all right let's go
okay so what do you look for to know
that the turmeric is ready to be
harvested
well what we want to see at the base of
the plants is that we have a lot of new
shoots coming up and that's a sign that
underneath of that shoot you'll have the
rhizome spreading out that far
so how do you harvest this thing well
we're still doing everything by hand so
we want to get our digging fork we're
going to want to go in right along the
base of the plant here get close to it
but not too close we want close enough
to pop out the whole root mass we put
our digging fork a few inches away we
want to go straight down so we don't
accidentally stab the roots or the
rhizomes and then we should be able to
get in and pop it loose all is one
cluster and you can see it's a little
difficult to tell what's in there
because the rhizomes have all of these
roots which hold the soil really tight
we never get to see turmeric in this
state so young and so vibrant like that
right well it's like most crops that are
grown and shipped long distances
you only can ship it once it's reached
this mature stage that is the mother
piece yet so you can see how small of a
mother piece we had to grow this yeah
you cut into here you'll see the top of
the how much usable part of the root and
the smell all the fragrance coming off
is immediately yeah I wish you could
smell what this smells like right now I
mean as soon as he cut that off there
was such like a vibrant fresh smell it's
amazing
I did taste a chunk of fresh turmeric
and wow it's spicy its bitter it's
crunchy and I'd much rather eat it
cooked
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try and deirdre sell their turmeric at a
farmers market into a few local
wholesale clients that's why they can
harvest their crops so young most of the
world's turmeric is picked in a more
mature state with a protective skin
around it and then it's cured which
means that it's boiled for about an hour
which kills off some of the microbes and
creates a more even color by
gelatinizing the starches it also loses
some of that fresh spicy smell after its
cured then it's dry it in the Sun or in
air dryers and then it's polished which
means it goes in a rotating drum that
kind of smoothes out the rhizome if it's
destined to become powdered turmeric it
then goes into a grinding machine
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I have to admit it's rather strange
looking out on this quintessentially
American looking farm and then squaring
that with this tropical plant growing in
a place so far from its natural habitat
at first it seems strange Trey and
Deirdre are devoted stewards of this
natural landscape why not focus on
growing foods that are native to here
and then I realized that's a
preposterous idea pretty much all they'd
have left to grow our pumpkins and
cranberries and blueberries because
almost all the food we grow here in the
u.s. originated someplace else potatoes
and tomatoes in South America oranges
and peaches in Asia and besides the most
important thing is not origin its impact
the people around here can purchase
locally grown turmeric they can
experience what it tastes and smells
like when it's freshly picked they can
meet the farmers that grew it what a
gift oh and if you need tips on what to
do with turmeric well then my friends in
India the Philippines Indonesia Malaysia
and beyond leave your tips and recipes
in the comments below let's get cookin
together
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