We love Turmeric!

They say Turmeric is the poor man’s saffron - but to us it is pure gold! For centuries, turmeric has been used in Ayurveda for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. 

This spice root is funky to look at, but don’t let that turn you away! Turmeric can be used raw - when you buy some from your local greengrocer, take it home, peel it (if you would like) and then grate it in to your next smoothie for an antioxidant kick! You can also find this spicy guy already dried and ground, making it super easy to use in both sweet and savoury dishes. As with so many of these delicious spices, look to Indian recipes and cookbooks for inspiration on how best to use them! Our favourites: a creamy coconut-based curry or soup, added to rice and yellow split peas to make a dahl, and we love, love, LOVE turmeric sprinkled all over cauliflower with olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and a bit of chilli and then baked in the oven - yum!

But we wouldn’t be talking about Turmeric so much if it wasn’t a beloved ingredient in some of our most prized Chai Walli blends!

Turmeric is used as the main ingredient in a ‘Golden Latte’ - a current coffee-alternative hit for the hipster crowd. Little did this tight-jean-wearing generation know that our mamma’s were making turmeric lattes LONG before it was cool. Trendsetters, you might call them. In India we call it Haldi Doodh - which I personally prefer (it kind of sounds like you’re saying hello to a cowboy)! It simply translates to Turmeric Milk - genius! And unlike those hipster powdered turmeric blends, our latte blend doesn’t contain any sugar - it’s sweet enough, and that comes down to the quality ingredients.

Our Turmeric Latte blend is made to Uppma’s own mothers’ recipe, using just 4 simple ingredients. Tried and tested to create the perfect ratio, our Turmeric Latte is the perfect balance of spice, earthiness and sweetness.

Let’s for a moment, imagine our Turmeric Latte blend as the wedding of the year (go on, humour me)… When Fennel and Cinnamon met, their union was one of sweet sweet love - these two spicy numbers now marry together beautifully and add a sweetness that can’t be manufactured! Ginger is the cheeky guest at the wedding, adding zing to the dance floor (or in this case, your cup), whilst Turmeric is the celebrant - bringing all parties together in love and earthiness, in sickness and in health. I do.

Our ground turmeric blend not only makes a killa latte, but watch this space in the coming weeks. We hear Uppma has been working her magic in the kitchen again and will be creating something baked & delicious using our blend as a base. We can’t wait!

If you are more inclined to enjoy a spicy chai, look no further than our Golden Chai. This fantastic blend of spices (featuring our guy, turmeric), offers up a chai that is a little spicier than our signature 11 Spice Chai. It is in fact more similar to a traditional Punjabi chai. For our black chai we use an organic tea from Assam, which just adds to the earthiness of this delicious brew. We’ve also created a caffeine-free version, which is perfect for those wintery nights by the fire! As the weather cools down here in Australia, our Golden Chai is starting to give the 11 Spice a little run for its money in the popularity stakes!

If you’d like to try any of our turmeric based blends, simply head here for the Turmeric Latte, or this way to the Chai range.  You can also set any of our chai blends up as a subscription - wouldn’t it be a joy to receive a fresh bag of chai delivered to your door every fortnight throughout Winter? Find out more about that here.

We’d love to know what your favourite recipes are using Turmeric, or have you made a baked creation using any of our teas? For a little inspo - have you seen this recipe for Uppma's spicy Apple Crumble? We'd love you to comment below, or get in touch at hello@chaiwalli.com.au.

Spicy regards,

The Chai Walli team