Plant · P-633

Turmeric

Curcuma longa

Turmeric's rhizome is a dye as much as it is a spice - the same pigment that gives curry its colour will stain hands, cloth and countertops just as readily. It is used fresh, frozen or pickled, or dried and ground, and has a long history in Chinese, Ayurvedic, Islamic and Thai medicine for indigestion, arthritis and skin complaints, though modern research still backs only a few of those uses. Unlike most food crops it actually prefers shade over sun in a hot climate, and produces heavily grown as an understorey crop beneath a tree canopy. It dies back at the first hard freeze; where winters get that cold, the rhizomes are lifted and stored indoors rather than left in the ground.