a spice and colouring agent obtained from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, a herbaceous perennial plant native to India or SE Asia. It is now widely cultivated in the tropics, but India remains by far the largest producer. The plant was taken into cultivation in very early times, probably in the first instance for its dye, and no longer occurs in its wild form.
The double role of turmeric in food preparation is matched only by paprika among the common spices. However, it is more often compared with, or substituted for, the expensive saffron. When Marco Polo found turmeric in China in 1280, he described it as ‘a vegetable which has all the properties of true saffron, as well the smell as the colour, and yet it is not really saffron’. This was an exaggeration, since aroma and flavour are not alike, but the yellow of turmeric does resemble that of saffron. This accounts for the French name safran d'Inde and other similar names.
Turmeric rhizomes, of which the central ones are bulbous and the others of ‘finger’ shape, are cured, dried, and cleaned before sale. Their interior is yellow, due to the presence of the pigment curcumin, and the exterior of rhizomes packed for sale may be coated with turmeric powder to enhance their appearance.
Although turmeric is used as a cosmetic, and as a dye for cloth and a simple colouring agent for food and drink, its main use in Asia is as a condiment. When thus used it always adds colour too; and it is often the principal ingredient of curry powder, to which it gives the dominant yellowish hue. Madras turmeric, the kind usually imported to Britain, is a mixture of cultivars suitable for this purpose. In N. America, turmeric is used more as a simple food colourant, and Alleppey turmeric from Kerala, which is a mixture of cultivars with a particularly high tinctorial power, is preferred.
The volatile oil of turmeric is not itself of commercial importance but supplies most of the aroma, and therefore the flavour, of the spice. The colour is supplied by curcumin and other curcuminoid pigments.
Besides being an essential ingredient of curry powder, turmeric is often used by itself for colouring and flavouring foodstuffs, including fish dishes. It is used in mustard pickles, and sometimes to colour butter or cheese and certain sweetmeats.
Turmeric has close relations with similar properties: see zedoary.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
