It’s warm, it’s yellow – and it’s a nightmare to clean off your kitchen countertop. Turmeric is a mainstay of many cuisines in north Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and latterly has become a voguish addition to lattes and a prized supplement on account of the spice’s claimed health benefits.
Those properties, celebrated in ayurvedic medicine for millennia, are now being confirmed by scientific studies. A new paper published this week found that curcumin, the natural compound found in turmeric, could be as effective as medications to treat excess stomach acid and indigestion. The egg-yolk yellow spice is also thought to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.
