Turmeric Hot Chocolate

Wait! Milk for a cold. Isn’t that a no no for my sinuses, Asked a friend.. Not with this special recipe. Its cold and wintry and an onset of flu symptoms seems to be everywhere. One friend was cured of a cold with this recipe and another asked for a cure. High time I shared my secret 🙂 and my take on a one-of-a-kind Golden Milk. With cocoa, I reduce the associated bitterness of turmeric & the heat of black pepper and make it kid friendly. By adding sweetener, even the most diehard of spice milks will be converted.

My grandfather, a village doctor swore by this recipe. Even without a cold, he would get my mom to serve him golden milk every night. The secret to his healthy long life I’m guessing. Meanwhile we thought he just loved milk.

In India, traditionally, turmeric milk has been used for colds, congestion, headache, and sore throats.

Back to the original friend’s question- Why black pepper and milk with turmeric?
Turmeric has a component called curcumin which is fat soluble. Meaning -it dissolves in fat.

With No fat, curcumin has a really hard time going further than the stomach, into the small intestine where ultimately it gets absorbed into the blood stream where it has the highest benefits.

Same logic for curry –where turmeric is the main ingredient. Ever loved the bright golden colors of Indian food, that’s right it comes from turmeric. But the best way to absorb it even in curry is when its dissolved in fat. Now you can pardon your local Indian restaurant for serving you greasy golden food 🙂

Ok, what about black pepper? Next spice, Black pepper and its main component Piperine. Its similar to capsaicin in chili peppers. Adding black pepper to turmeric dissolved in milk increases curcumin’s bioavailability by 1000 times. Now there’s an interesting statistic to make you want to try this combo of turmeric black pepper in other places & recipes.

Ingredients 1 cup milk (I used oat milk)-use any milk of choice. Try to Avoid nut milk, which can be inflammatory

Spice Mix 1 tsp cocoa ½ tsp turmeric powder Pinch black pepper, less than ¼ tsp sweetener of choice, to taste

Method
• Boil milk with cocoa, turmeric and black pepper powder.
• When milk begins to bubble remove from stove.
• Drink hot or warm. Can’t handle spiced milk –just add some sweetener of choice to the pot.

Health Benefits of golden milk

• Boost immune system so you can stay healthy during the cold winter months cooped up indoors. Turmeric milk’s powerful antioxidant properties help promote heart health, memory, and boost the immune system. It has the potential to deliver more antioxidants then even vitamins E and C.
• Reduce arthritic pain. Clinically proven to ease arthritic pain and promote increased flexibility in many studies. It’s comparable to large doses of ibuprofen (800 mg daily) without side-effects while actually delivering other health benefits.
• Stop colds and reduce future occurrence
• Fight insomnia. My grandfather’s nightly warm beverage of turmeric milk may have been the reason he slept so well at night.
• Help your digestive tract – the root of good or bad health. It helps ease and heal inflammatory bowel disease.
• Slow and help reverse the onset of Alzheimer’s disease as symptoms develop. It also helps eliminate cognitive decline normally attributed to “old age.
• Get glowing skin. Turmeric milk helps fights free radicals that damage skin and make it lose its glow and elasticity. Turmeric face masks are a great way to get external skin glow, but turmeric milk can help in internal absorption.
• Meat eaters rejoice.. It reduces carcinogenic heterocyclic amines that are formed when meat is cooked by up to 40 percent.

Next time you reach for that turmeric supplement. Stop.. read its ingredients. Does it have the necessary fat to dissolve the curcumin in turmeric, if not, make turmeric paste by dissolving the capsule in 1 tsp coconut oil & then take it.

Last word : turmeric has been used in India’s Ayurvedic remedies for 2,500 years. “We’ve shown that [curcumin] has well over 100 mechanisms of damaging cancer cells, particularly colon cancer cells,” said Professor Will Stewart.

All these benefits add up to a great anti-aging agent, with direct results showing up in your skin after daily use over an extended period of time. Now you know the secret of my youth and that of millions of Indian women 🙂 who use turmeric in their daily cooking.

Here’s my backyard. End April arrived with a dramatic snowfall! Doesn’t it make you want to just cuddle indoors with a blanket and sip warm beverages. Now, you know how to. So go on, make yourself a nice warm glass of turmeric milk next time you feel under the weather with this wintry snow all around. And do remember to comment and let me know how much you enjoyed this milk.

another turmeric recipe for you to try
http://charuyoga.com/2012/09/16/black-eyed-bean-stew/

–charuyoga–