Turmeric is a famous spice that is used in Asian, African and Middle Eastern cuisines. It is more prominent however in Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Malaysian, Sri Lankan as well as Indonesian cuisines since it is a staple part of their food preparation.

For most parts of the world, the turmeric benefits calls for it to be a food preservative as well as food coloring. This is where the yellow in mustard, cheese, pickles and margarines come from. Aside from the turmeric uses in the culinary world, there are other turmeric benefits that people are not often aware off.

Health Benefits of Turmeric

Recently, it has been gaining popularity because of some studies indicating that turmeric benefits our mental health because it prevents the onset of dementia as well as Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers credit curcumin for such preventive capabilities. Curcumin is actually the main ingredient that constitutes turmeric.

Other health benefits of turmeric include the reduction of pigmentation, strengthening of the bones, softening of the body, the ability to make the skin supple, inhibition of cell damage as well as fighting diarrhea.

Turmeric is also a natural antiseptic as well as an anti-bacterial spice. Some use it externally to aid in the cleaning and disinfecting of burns and cuts. Another turmeric uses for the Chinese is that it helps in the treatment of depression. They also believe that turmeric speeds up metabolism thereby making it as an effective weight management spice.

Turmeric and Skin Care

Aside from turmeric benefits on health, it is also used for cosmetics. Some sunscreens or rather most sunscreens use turmeric in their formulation.

In India, many women are using turmeric paste to keep them from superfluous hair. Other turmeric benefits for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is the use of this spice as a beauty regimen for the bride and groom before marriage because it is believed that turmeric gives a certain glow on the skin and helps protect it by keeping harmful bacteria away from the body.

On the other hand, in Thailand, the government is even funding a project that will extract certain compounds from turmeric to use as treatment for inflammation of the skin. If successful, it will be very useful in different cosmetics applications.

Other Turmeric Uses

Turmeric is also used for gardening and dye. Although turmeric makes a poor dye, it is still being used in India for their clothing like the saris. The reason why it is not suitable as a dye is because it is lightfast. For gardening, it can be used to deter ants from attacking your garden. Up to date there is still no clear reason on why ants hate turmeric but it does work and for most gardeners, that’s all that matters.

Other turmeric uses also include the application of this spice for ceremonial purposes. In fact a lot of history is still linked to turmeric because up to date it is still used for ceremonial rituals. The turmeric you buy in groceries is not pure and often has other components mixed in already. For you to be able to enjoy the full turmeric benefits, the spice must be pure.

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It may be difficult for you to find an adequate Indonesian grocery (or any at all) around your area. Asian groceries are becoming more popular, but they are still hard to find in some areas. If so, you have two choices. You can resign yourself to never finding the Indonesian food you love and instead looking for substitutes in your local grocery store. Or you can do what so many other people are doing in this day and age – shopping Indonesian groceries online! There are several websites that offer an Indonesian grocery store full of content with online Indonesian foods from all the well-known brands at some of the lowest prices in North America. There were some made precisely because of the average problem finding the right Asian markets or any Indonesian grocery at all.

The concept behind the startup of one I recently visited, called Toko Gembira, created the online Indonesian grocery to remedy the difficulty with finding Indonesian food: they had to drive forty miles just to find an Indonesian grocery for the right kinds of ingredients. In order to address the problem of scarcity of Indonesian groceries, the rising gas prices and the rising food costs because of it, and in order to help people avoid traffic jams, the owners of Toko Gembira created the website for all online Indonesian food needs. They also wanted to respond to the prevalence of problems with other online Indonesian groceries such as overpriced online Indonesian foods, overpriced shipping charges, and a minimum purchase requirement. This store has no such limitations on their online Indonesian food. They created their website to be easy to navigate, with low-priced online Indonesian foods, reasonable shipping charges, and no minimum purchase requirement. They even accept Paypal for easy and secure online transactions.

At most online Indonesian groceries, the web sites will offer a wide array of online Indonesian foods in easy sections – the online version of aisles. There are beverages, flavorings, snacks, sauces, cracks, and other things. Some of the well-known brands they carry are ABC, Wayang, Munik, Bango, Bamboe, Kukagumi, Kokita, Gembira, Silver Queen, and Beng-Beng. Most Indonesian food websites also provide a blog that includes some item reviews and delicious recipes for your online Indonesian foods that you can use with items from your local grocery as well. And just so that you can get that more intimate shopowner/shopper feel that you can usually only get in a walk-in Indonesian grocery, many owners also link to their personal website – you know who you are buying from, and you are not just an empty face to them. If there is a problem with the product, almost all sites have a reasonable return policy viable within five days of the original delivery, and you will be credited in the same way you purchased the item within seven days of the return.

So if you have been having trouble finding the right Indonesian grocery for a comfortable taste of the homeland or just an interesting change in your weekly dinners, go online and find a safe, cheaper alternative to driving for hours or purchasing products at other online Indonesian groceries.

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Health Benefits

Cinnamon has many health benefits. It has shown promise in the treatment of diabetes, arthritis, high cholesterol, memory function, and even leukemia and lymphoma.

Primary nutrients in 2 teaspoons: 12 calories, 760 mcg. of manganese, 2.5 grams of fiber, 1.72 mg. of iron, 56 mg. of calcium. Cinnamon has been used as a treatment in traditional medicine for over five thousand years!

Types

Although there are four main varieties, Ceylon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), and Cassia (Cinnamomum cassia) are the most popular. Cinnamon health benefits don’t seem to be significantly different from one type to another.

Ceylon cinnamon is sometimes called “true cinnamon”. It is more expensive and has a sweet taste, milder than Cassia. The quills are softer and can be easily ground in a coffee grinder. The Ceylon type is usually only sold in specialty stores. Ceylon uses only the thin inner bark, and thus has a finer, less dense, and more crumbly texture.

Cassia, the less expensive variety, is the most common type sold in supermarkets in North America. This variety grows on small trees in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Egypt. It has a darker color and the quills are harder.

These varieties are sometimes sold labeled as cinnamon, and sometimes distinguished from true cinnamon as “Chinese,” “Vietnamese,” or “Indonesian.” Cassia has a much stronger flavor than Ceylon, is generally reddish-brown in color, hard and woody in texture, and thicker, as all of the layers of bark are used.

History

The word cinnamon comes from the Greek kinnamomon. Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices known. It was mentioned in the Old Testament (Exodus 30: 22-33), and in Chinese writings as far back as 2800 BC. In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used as a flavoring in food and beverages, and also in the embalming process.

Due to its demand, it became one of the first commodities traded regularly between the Near East and Europe. Today, Ceylon cinnamon is produced in Sri Lanka, India, Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean, while Cassia is mainly produced in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Miscellaneous Facts

Cinnamon is a tree belonging to the Lauraceae family. The bark of the tree is what is used as a spice. True cinnamon, or Ceylon, is native to Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). To make cinnamon, the bark of the tree is dried and rolled into sticks, also called quills. It can also be dried and ground into a powder.

The primary chemical constituents of this herb include cinnamaldehyde, gum, tannin, mannitol, coumarins and essential oils (aldehydes, eugenol, pinene). Cinnamonaldehyde, a compound in the essential oil of the bark, gives cinnamon its characteristic flavor and aroma.

Buying and Using

Just like with other dried spices, try to select organically grown, since this will give you more assurance that it has not been irradiated (among other potential adverse effects, irradiating cinnamon may cause a significant decrease in vitamin C and carotenoid content).

Cinnamon should be kept in a tightly sealed glass container, in a cool, dark and dry place. Ground cinnamon will keep for about six months, while sticks will stay fresh for about one year stored this way. You can also extend their shelf life by keeping them in your refrigerator.

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Have the following ingredients on hand in your pantry to make it easier to prepare Indonesian-style dishes. Most ingredients can be found in your local supermarket or greengrocer. Some of the specialized ingredients can be found in Asian Food stores.

These is some of the following ingredients of Indonesian dishes:

- Capsicum: Also known as red or green peppers.

- Capsicum:From the candleberry tree, these nuts look like macadamia nuts and taste like Brazil nuts. Available from Asian Food strores.

- Cardamon: Spice from the ginger family. Seeds are purchased whole, either in or out of their pods, or grounds.

- Chillies: Small red chillies are the hottest. The larger red chillies are milder and green chillies are milder still. Seeds are often discarded as they are the hottest part of the chilli.

- Coconut Cream: Thick white liquid that rises to the surface when coconut milk is left to stand.

- Coconut Milk: This is not the juice from the inside of the fresh coconut but the liquid extracted from the white flesh.

- Coriander: Indonesians use only the seed of the coriander plant, not the leaves or roots.

- Cumin: An aromatic spice with a pungent flavour, seeds are available whole or ground.

- Egg Noodles (fine, dry): looks like fine spaghetti which has been wound into a small bundles.

- Ginger: Fresh ginger root is recommended, rather than dried. Indonesians also use laos and galagal which give a similar flavour and are occasionally available fresh from Asian Food stores.

- Palm Sugar: Dark brown sugar made from the juice of the coconut palm flower. Sold in hard blocks, cut off required amount and crush it. Available from Asian Food stores.

- Peanut Oil: A light oil used extensively in Indonesian cooking. Coconut oil is also used.

- Rice Flour: Is finely ground white or brown rice and often used as a thickener.

- Shrimp Paste(terasi): Extremely pungent, salty paste, sold in jars. Also available in hard blocks, use sparingly.

- Soy Sauce (kecap): Light soy sauce which is thin and salty. Kecap manis is dark soy sauce which is thick and sweet.

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