Ahh, flu season. Aches and pains and a sore throat put me in no mood to cook right now, but I am sipping copious amounts of tea. Ginger is my old standby, which I usually mix with honey for a warm, soothing drink. This time I added another ingredient: turmeric.
I recalled that turmeric is believed to have anti-inflammatory properties and thought this warm, tongue-tingling spice might make a good addition to flu-season tea. It turns out this is not a new idea; turmeric tea is found in Okinawan and Indian cuisine and I found several recipes in herbal cookbooks and natural health Web sites.
Here's a quick little recipe for the version I made. In addition to turmeric and ginger, I added soy milk and honey, which helped balance out the slightly bitter and pungent spices. The result was earthy and comforting. Feel free to play around with the proportions, to substitute fresh ginger and/or turmeric, etc.
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Splash of milk or soy milk
Honey or maple syrup, to taste
In a small saucepan, bring water to boil. Add turmeric and ginger, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in milk and strain tea into a cup. Add sweetener to taste.
Related: Recipe: Flu Season Ginger Honey Lemon Tonic
(Image: Emily Ho)
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My absolute favorite tea for when I'm not feeling well is a ginger-cayenne-lemon-honey tea. It's warming, invigorating, and always makes me feel better.
I boil a 1"-ish piece of ginger, chopped finely, with a generous dash of cayenne, then add around 1tbs of lemon and honey to taste.
This tea sounds really interesting though. I've never thought of adding turmeric to tea. Will definitely try.
I would spill it and stain everything permanently orange.
i know it sounds weird, but adding sage to this tea would be a great addition. it tones down the astringency of the other spices and is great for soothing sore throats. i also really like a sage-honey-lemon-whiskey drink when i've got the winter throat scratchiness.
Hmmm, I'm going to try the ginger-turmeric with almond milk...
Cayenne pepper is great for sore throats....it's a blood thinner so eases the discomfort caused by inflammation.
I am India, and remember, if we had a fall, a cough, a cut, a pain, an ache, mom would be standing there with a glass of milk mixed in with turmeric. It is supposed to be the cure of all ailments. We used it also as a salve on our wounds, which healed super quick with turmeric.
We use turmeric pretty much in all dishes.
Another trick for keeping away ants from your food bins.. put a turmeric root, some dry whole red chilli in a small cloth bag, such as bouquet garni bags inside your flour bins etc..
Check out the link between Turmeric and Alzheimers in this link.
http://www.wellnesstrader.com/evidence/Turmeric-Alzheimers
Thank you. I will try this recipe asap! Nice to find different ways of taking anti-inflamatory Turmeric!
This recipe is in one of my vegan cookbooks and I have been making it for quit some time, great with Almond Milk.
How do you strain the tea? It is all powder; so I am not clear what I am straining.
I created this comforting tea with ginger and rose hips it really works when you are starting to get sick.
http://myteashelf.com/tea/herbal-teas/cold-relief