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Curcuma longa
Also called Common turmeric, Indian Saffron
In Singapore: Turmeric, Kunyit, 黄姜 (Grown in Singapore)
Turmeric is a perennial herbaceous plant grown mainly for its aromatic yellow-orange rhizomes, which are dried and ground into the spice. It needs warm temperatures and high rainfall, so it does best in a frost-free tropical or subtropical climate.
Turmeric (), or Curcuma longa (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F) and high annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered each year for their rhizomes, some for propagation in the following season and some for consumption or dyeing.
The rhizomes can be used fresh, but they are often boiled in water and dried, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow shelf-stable spice powder commonly used as a coloring and flavoring agent in many Asian cuisines, especially for curries (curry powder). Turmeric powder has a warm, bitter, black pepper-like flavor and earthy, mustard-like aroma.
Turmeric powder is about 67% carbohydrates, 12% water, 9% protein, 3% fat, 3–7% dietary minerals, 3–7% essential oils, 22% dietary fiber, and 1–6% curcuminoids. The golden yellow color of turmeric is due to curcumin.
Phytochemical components of turmeric include diarylheptanoids, a class including numerous curcuminoids, such as curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Curcumin constitutes an average of 3.14% by weight of assayed commercial samples of turmeric powder; curry powder contains much less (an average of 0.29%). Some 34 essential oils are present in turmeric, among which turmerone, germacrone, atlantone, and zingiberene are major constituents.
Mango ginger · Curcuma · Black Tumeric · Curcuma prakasha · Jewel of Burma · Curcuma zanthorrhiza · Zedoary · Hidden Lily
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Turmeric by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
