Spice of Life Part ITurmeric

Description:
This brilliant golden yellow spice, also known as Indian Saffron, is available in fresh, dried, or powdered form.

It adds a mild aroma and distinctive yellow colour to foods. It has a warm, slightly bitter taste like black pepper and is most often used to flavour or colour mustards, butters, and cheeses. A member of the ginger family, turmeric comes from the underground rhizome of the plant and is essential to curry powder.

Turmeric can be used to enhance many foods such as pilafs, poultry, fish, pickles, chutneys, deviled eggs, bean and lentil dishes, and vegetable dishes, especially cauliflower and potatoes. It also makes a flavourful tea or latte.

History:
It was first used in Southeast Asia as a dye to colour the robes of monks and priests yellow. The use of turmeric as a culinary spice dates back almost 4,000 years to India, where it also had some religious significance. It spread to China, Africa, and Jamaica, and Marco Polo described it as exhibiting qualities similar to saffron. It has a long history of medicinal use in South Asia, and is believed to be one of the ancient Persian yellow spices associated with sun worship.

Medicinal Uses:
In the last few years turmeric, or more precisely its main component curcumin, has been gaining popularity for its medicinal benefits.

Curcumin is known for its powerful anti-inflammatory properties and is often used to relieve osteoarthritis. It’s also an effective aid in the treatment of depression, type 2 diabetes, lowering cholesterol, and relieving PMS symptoms. It has been used in headache treatment, especially for migraines, and one study has shown it can help ward off heart attacks in those who’ve had bypass surgery. Turmeric tea can also help ward off a variety of viruses, including the flu and COVID-19

Recipes:

Golden Milk Turmeric Tea
(for health benefits)

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk, preferably coconut milk beverage or almond milk
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 (1-inch) piece turmeric, unpeeled, thinly sliced, or 1/2 teaspoon dried turmeric
1 (1/2-inch) piece ginger, unpeeled, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
Ground cinnamon (for serving)

Directions:
Whisk coconut milk, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, honey, coconut oil, peppercorns, and 1 cup water in a small saucepan; bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavours have melded, about 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into mugs and top with a dash of cinnamon.

Golden milk can be made 5 days ahead. Store in an airtight container and chill. Warm before serving.


Spiced Jasmine Rice Pilaf

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
½ small fennel bulb, finely chopped
¼ cup coarsely chopped fennel fronds
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
1½ cups low-sodium chicken stock
¼ cup chopped unsalted, roasted almonds, divided
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Add onion, fennel, and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until onion is softened and translucent, 5–8 minutes. Add coriander and tumeric and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add rice and cook, stirring often, until some grains are translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add stock, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover saucepan, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 12–15 minutes. Remove pan from heat and fluff rice with a fork. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, then lid. Let sit 10 minutes.

Stir in fennel fronds and half of almonds. Top with cilantro and remaining almonds.

Serves 4

Home Remedies - Acne

Whether it's grandpa's secret recipe for a hot toddy, or Uncle Bob's sure fire cure for the hiccups, home remedies have been around for a long time. This series is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to home remedies. The remedies in this series are for entertainment purposes only and should never supersede a doctor’s advice.

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all suffered from the scourge of acne at one time or another. This skin condition can affect anyone at any age, but primarily strikes those between the ages of 12 and 24. It occurs when hair follicles become clogged by dead skin cells and oils. Fortunately, there are many treatments.

Take half a quarter Pound of Bitter Almonds, blanch, stamp them, and put them into half a pint of Spring-water, stir it together; and strain it out; then put to it a pennyworth of the Flour of Brimstone. Shake it well when you use, which must be often. Dab it on with a fine rag.
— The Complete Family Piece and Country Gentleman and Farmer’s Best Guide, 1741

Pound an orange peel with water on a piece stone and apply on acne affected areas. Orange peels are mildly acidic in nature and help to cleanse the skin of excess sebum.

You can make a face scrub out of gram flour and orange peels. Dry a few pieces of orange peel and grind them lightly so that you get a coarse powder. Mix this powder with an equal amount of gram flour and then add enough water to this powder to make it a thin paste. Massage your face with this paste and then leave it on for five minutes before rinsing it off with lukewarm or cold water.

Apply lemon juice and rose water in equal amount with a cotton ball and leave for half an hour, then wash. Repeat this remedy for 20-25 days. Lemon juice is acidic in nature and also contains Vitamin C which is beneficial to overall skin health.

If you have very sensitive skin, you can dilute the lemon juice with an equal amount of fresh mint leaf juice as this will help to reduce inflammation. This is also one of the popular home remedies for blackheads. Mix 3-4 drops of lemon juice in 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of grind oatmeal. Apply on face, leave the paste for 10-15 minutes and wash.

Garlic has been used successfully to heal acne. Rub with raw garlic several times a day. Garlic is known to have cured the toughest of acne problems. The outside use of garlic helps to clear the skin of spots, pimples and boils. Acne can be further cured by eating three seeds of raw garlic once on a daily basis for a month. This purifies the blood stream and ensures basic purification of blood keeping acne away. Garlic contains Allicin which is a natural antibiotic agent and this helps to prevent the spread of acne. If you have sensitive skin, you could add garlic juice to a spoon of yogurt and apply this mixture to your face. Yogurt contains several vitamins and healthy fatty acids and helps to moisturize your skin without making it oily.

Grated cucumber applied over the face, eyes, and neck for fifteen to twenty minutes has been found useful. It is the most excellent boost for the skin of the face. Its usual use prevents pimples and blackheads. Grated cucumber applied over the face, eyes, and neck for fifteen to twenty minutes has been found effective. It is the best tonic for your complexion. Its regular use prevents pimples and blackheads.

Cut a bean in half; place half of it on the pimple and bury the other half. The pimple will be gone in the morning.
— Cosmetic Recipes, 1759

Take small amount of ground almonds and honey and make a fine paste. Gently massage this paste on your face with a hot washcloth and then rinse with cold water.

Mix 1/2 cup mashed apple, 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 slightly beaten egg white and 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a fine paste and apply to your face for at least 15 minutes to 20 minutes and rinse with cold water.

Mix honey and cinnamon powder into a fine paste. Apply on the acne pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. Repeat for 2-3 weeks, pimples will disappear forever.

A teaspoon of coriander juice, mixed with a pinch of turmeric powder, is an additional effective home medicine for pimples and blackheads. The combination should be applied to the face after carefully washing it each night before retiring. Mint juice can be used in a similar mode as coriander juice. This is one of the best home remedies for acne.

Fenugreek is a new useful therapy for acne. A paste made of the leaves of this vegetable, applied over the face each night before bed and washed with hot water in the morning, prevents pimples and blackheads.

Wonders of the World – Introduction

After much deliberation, I finally decided on the Wonders of the World for my next non-fiction series. There is a plethora of lists of wonders – natural wonders, underwater wonders, engineering wonders, new wonders, city wonders, solar system wonders – to name but a few.

Seeing as I have a love of ancient history, I’m choosing to go with the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Scholars have debated for years over who compiled the first list of wonders – or as the Greeks called them, theamata, which translates as "things to be seen". It has been suggested that Callimachus of Cyrene drafted the list in the third century B.C. or Herodotus, who lived from around 484 to 425 B.C.

It’s generally agreed that Antipater, a Greek author living in the Phoenician port of Sidon came up with the original list in a poem where he lists the most remarkable creations of mankind:

I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race, and on the Zeus by the banks of the Alpheus, I have seen the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Helios, the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids, and the gigantic tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus.
– Antipater, Greek Anthology IX.58

Somewhere around the 8th century AD the walls of Babylon were dropped off the list, to be replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Of the original seven wonders, only the Great Pyramid still exists. The others are in unrecognizable ruins, and the Hanging Gardens might not even have existed at all. What we know about the wonders comes from written accounts of ancient tourists and modern archaeological research. Much of our information about the monuments is conjecture or questionable second hand accounts.

These monuments may not have physically stood the test of time, but they thrive in our imaginations as some of the most magnificent manmade structures of the ancient world.

the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
the Colossus of Rhodes.
the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt.

Join me next week when I start with the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Astrology – Introduction

Did you read your horoscope today? Chances are, even if you didn’t you at least know what sign of the zodiac you were born under. Astrology seems like the logical thing to follow my series on divination. After all, what better way to tell your fortune than through the stars?

Astrology has been around since 3,000 B.C. when ancient star-gazers studied the heavens and realized the stars followed a cycle every year. The Babylonians realized it took 12 lunar cycles (months) for the sun to return to its original position. They then assigned names to the 12 constellations that were linked to the progression of the seasons.

With their newly created astrological charts, they were able to predict the recurrence of the seasons. This enabled them to create an agricultural calendar that predicted the dates for the sowing of crops and harvesting,

Astrology was introduced to the Greeks early in the 4th century B.C. Later it was embraced by the Romans (the Roman names for the signs of the zodiac are still used today) and the Arabs. Now it has spread throughout the entire world.

The signs of the zodiac are as follows:

Aries, the Ram - March 21 to April 20, ruler of the head
Taurus, the Bull - April 21 to May 20, ruler of the neck and throat
Gemini, the Twins - May 21 to June 20, ruler of the arms
Cancer, the Crab - June 21 to July 22, ruler of the breast
Leo, the Lion - July 23 to August 22, ruler of the heart
Virgo, the Virgin - August 23 to September 22, ruler of the stomach
Libra, the Scales - September 23 to October 22, ruler of the kidneys
Scorpio, the Scorpion - October 23 to November 22, ruler of the pelvis
Sagittarius, the Archer - November 23 to December 21, ruler of the thighs
Capricon, the Seagoat - December 22 to January 19, ruler of the knees
Aquarius, the Waterbearer - January 20 to February 19, ruler of the legs
Pisces, the Fish - February 20 to March 20, ruler of the feet

Some interesting Zodiac facts:

The term zodiac derives from Latin zōdiacus, which comes from the Greek zōdiakos kuklos, meaning circle of animals.

Astrology is considered to be both a science and an art. It has scientific status because it requires mathematics and an understanding of Astronomy, and art because interpretation is necessary to bring the different aspects together.

Interest in astrology waned with the rise of Christianity, but became popular again when Nostradamus published his book of prophecies in 1555.

Those born under the signs of Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius tend to be extroverts, while those born under the signs of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces tend to be introverts.

At one time astrology and astronomy were considered part of the same science, however while astronomy went on to become one of the hard sciences, astrology is often thought to be a pseudo-science.

More than one third of all Americans believe in astrology.

Astrologers claim that the moon has the same effect on humans as it does on the ocean. If the moon can affect the huge tides it cannot fail to affect the human body, which consists of 75 per cent water.

The zodiac cycle starts with Aries because March 21 is the spring equinox.

Adolf Hitler is thought to have used an Astrologer throughout the Second World War.

Join me here next week to explore the first sign of the zodiac, Aries.