Spices

Red Turmeric Root Extract

Curcuma longa

Red turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a leafy, rhizome-forming herb of the ginger family, 0.6 to 1 metre tall, with broad oval leaves up to 45cm long and a loose cone of pale green bracts rising between them. It is grown throughout Vietnam as a kitchen spice, and in India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and China. The rhizome is dug in autumn and set apart from the tuberous roots, kept separately as uất kim, then steamed for six to twelve hours, drained and dried in the sun. Cylindrical or slightly flattened, it snaps to show deep orange-yellow flesh, coloured by curcumin, and carries a fragrant, pale-yellow essential oil.