Fresh ground pepper with your Turmeric Latte?

Turmeric, the 'Golden Spice', like the golden child has alway been quite popular and well respected. It is not only known for its bright yellow colour and unique flavour (often found in South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine) but also its role in ancient and traditional medicine.

Turmeric continues to make it's mark in the world of health and wellness for its health benefits. The active compound in turmeric is called curcumin which is know for its strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic effects. Curcumin is thought to help keep your immune system strong, helping you reduce your risk of short-term or acute illnesses (like a cold or flu). It is even thought to play a role in the risk reduction of long-term or chronic illnesses (like heart disease etc)- CRAZY! 

The community of health and wellness foodies puts turmeric on everything! Okay, not everything. Peanut butter goes on everything, but let's just say that turmeric is a friend of the health foodies. My personal favourites, aside from curry dishes, are turmeric cauliflower rice and turmeric golden milk lattes. Let's be real, I sneak turmeric into a lot of different meals. Whenever I am using turmeric I always make sure to use a pinch or so of black pepper. Why black pepper?  The compound in black pepper called piperine increases the absorption of the curcumin when eating or drinking turmeric. This is know as increasing the bioavailability. In other words, pepper increases the amount of curcumin that your body absorbs and puts to work! How this works is the piperine slows down or inhibits the metabolism of curcumin in the liver allowing the curcumin to remain the your system longer rather than being quickly filtered through the body. The longer in the system the more absorption. 

This powerful spice is on the rise. Try a turmeric tea or golden milk latte next time you are at your trendy local coffee shops, and make sure it comes with some ground pepper!

WARNING: Turmeric is a very golden yellow spice that loves to stain everything so try to use older pots, whisks, mugs.... and t-shirt. Speaking from experience. 

Recipe can be found here Turmeric Golden Milk