Healing, soothing and delicious, this spiced turmeric milk is a good drink to indulge in before going to bed or first thing in the morning.
Age is supposed to confer wisdom, but the main thing I notice these days is that my joints are a little creaky. I try to alleviate this by getting as much turmeric into my diet as I can. This is the first time I’ve made it the star of the show, however.
Building on my recent success with hemp milk, I decided to combine these two oriental power houses to make spiced turmeric milk. If the hemp doesn’t get you, the turmeric will.
Turmeric
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) comes from the same Zingiberaceae family as ginger and is native to south Asia. Known as the Golden Goddess in some cultures, it has been used as a healing spice for thousands of years. Although the curcumin it contains is best known as a powerful anti-inflammatory, turmeric has many other benefits.
I’m not going to list all of them here as there are plenty of more knowledgeable sources of information than mine. Suffice it to say it’s meant to be good for colds, digestion, poor circulation and arthritis. It’s also said to help prevent or treat many of the diseases which are so prevalent in our time: cancer, Alzheimer’s diabetes and IBS to name but a few.
(Ref: Turmeric: the golden spice of life, 2012)
Spiced Turmeric Milk
I added a couple of other healing spices to my turmeric milk: cinnamon and cardamom. Not only do they have their own healing properties, but they taste good too. Cinnamon helps to control blood sugar and cardamom is a stomach soother. The last thing to go into the mix was honey.
Honey is another ancient healer and contains trace amounts of many vitamins and minerals. I understand the Ayurvedic tradition is to drink turmeric milk before going to bed as it helps to promote sleep, but it’s also good as a morning pick-me-up.
The spiced turmeric milk turned out to be a lot nicer than I was expecting, delicious in fact. Taking one’s medicine has never been so pleasant. You can of course, use whatever milk you like, but the hemp milk gives it a nice nutty flavour that acts as a complementary backdrop to the spices and honey.
Spiced Turmeric Milk: Top Tip
The body needs a certain amount of fat to help absorb the curcumin in the turmeric. So if you’re using a fat free or low fat milk, add a teaspoon of coconut oil. Likewise, a little black pepper helps too. I’ve thus included a grinding of black pepper in the recipe below.
Other Recipes for Turmeric Drinks You Might Like
- Anti-inflamatory cherry smoothie via Strength and Sunshine
- Golden banana, turmeric & maple syrup smoothie via Kavey Eats
- Golden turmeric latte via Tin and Thyme
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Choclette x
Spiced Turmeric Milk. PIN IT.
Spiced Turmeric Milk – The Recipe
Spiced Turmeric Milk
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk of your choice (I used homemade hemp milk)
- 1 cardamom pod – crushed
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp honey or maple syrup (manuka honey is particularly good)
- grinding of black pepper
Instructions
- Warm the milk gently in a pan with the crushed cardamom pod. You want to get the milk hot, but make sure it doesn’t boil, especially if using a non-dairy milk.
- When hot, whisk in the turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper and maple syrup or honey.
- Pour into two small cups or glasses and sip slowly.
This turmeric milk drink looks so warming! I would love to curl up with a big mug of it right now.
I often have it in the afternoon these days. It’s sort of comforting but perks me up too.
What a tasty and healthy treat! I could cosy up with a mug of this at bedtime and be very happy
It makes a lovely bedtime drink indeed and the bonus is that you know it’s doing you good.
I was brought up on this, any sign of a cut, bruise or sniffle and my mum would give us this to drink. Turmeric is indeed very good for your health.
Your mother was a very wise woman Nayna 🙂
I am trying to add more turmeric to our food. I tried hemp milk but couldn’t really love it although the rice pudding I made was OK!
I’m always on the look out on how I can add turmeric to foods – mostly it goes into our morning smoothie. Hemp milk is definitely an acquired taste, but I like the nutty flavour it has.
I keep reading about the health benefits of turmeric – it really does seem to be a superfood!
And it’s been known as a super spice for a very long time Cathy.
Lovely warming healing drink, might just drink it because it’s so cold right now!
It has become a bit ridiculous hasn’t it? I’m almost back in winter clothes.
I’m only 27 and some of my joints are already creaky! Definitely think I need this – sounds so comforting and soothing.
It’s definitely worth a try Becca, though I think it needs to be drunk regularly to have any real effect.
It sounds like a really soothing drink – great for bedtime!
I want to get into the habit of making it at bedtime on a regular basis, but haven’t managed it yet.
NEED to try this. Not only does it sound delicious and healthy but that colour is just beautiful!
I’m with you there Aimee, the colour is beautiful.
How nutritious and good for you!
And it’s really tasty too Angie, much nicer than I was expecting.
Such a delicious and healthy drink. It is amazing how healthy and tasty these spices are for us.
When I was young I wanted to be a herbalist Catherine. I sort of wished I’d followed through with it.
Looks wonderful, I didn’t realise turmeric has so many health benefits 🙂 x
Turmeric has loads of benefits Charlene, I only mentioned a few of them here 🙂
I love golden milk! It has amazing anti-inflammatory properties and it tastes amazing too! Just a tip, the body needs fat to absorb turmeric so adding a little oil (I add 1/2-1 tsp coconut oil) and a pinch of black pepper helps with absorption 😉
Thanks for the tips Nadia. I’d heard about black pepper, but forgot it when I actually made it and blogged about it too. I should add that as a footnote. Wouldn’t there be enough fat in hemp milk to work?
Love the sound of this, but as I don’t drink straight milk, I think I will try it either with Kefir or yogurt!
I made mine with homemade hemp milk Jenny, but kefir should be fine too. Or coconut milk – see Nadia’s comment above too.