الوصف

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) the tuberous rhizomes or underground stems of turmeric have been used from antiquity as condiments, a dye and as an aromatic stimulant in several medicines.  Turmeric occupies about 6% of the total area under spices and condiments in India.

AROMA AND FLAVOUR

Raw turmeric rhizomes have to be cured for both colour and aroma. For this, the fingers and bulbs are boiled separately in water for *0 to *5 minutes until the rhizomes are soft.This procedure gets rid of the raw colour, reduces drying time, gelatinises the starch and gives the turmeric a more uniform colour. Water is then drained and the turmeric sun dried for ****5 days until they become dry and hard.The dried produce is cleaned and polished mechanically in a drum rotated by hand or by power.Turmeric oleoresin is obtained by solvent extraction of the ground spice. It is orange-red in colour and consists of colouring matter, volatile oil, fatty oils and bitter principles. The volatile oil gives the turmeric its characteristic flavour.

The important quality attributes of turmeric are size, physical form, colour, curcumin content, maturity, weight or bulk density, length and thickness, intensity of colour of the core and aroma.

USE  CULINARY & MEDICINAL

• ​Spice or flavourant
• Colourant of brilliant yellow dye
• Cosmetic and drug
• Medicinal oils, ointments and poultice. It is stomachic, carminative, tonic, blood purifier and an antiseptic.
• Pickles and to some extent in mayonnaise , non-alcoholic beverages, gelatins, butter and cheese etc