From the ground up

Most of us only meet turmeric as a yellow powder in a jar.

Before that, it was a knobbly underground stem. Turmeric is the rhizome of Curcuma longa, a leafy tropical plant in the ginger family (haldi in Hindi, haridra in Sanskrit). The fingers are dug from the soil, boiled, dried, and ground. That is where the yellow comes from.

It does not all look the same, either. Turmeric grows in many varieties, and the colour shifts with them, from yellow to orange to a deep red. The powder in your jar is just one of them.

It is easy to forget a spice was ever a plant.

Next time you reach for turmeric, pause on it for a second. Picture the plant it came from, leafy and green, with the yellow fingers growing under the soil.

If you can find fresh turmeric root, hold a piece. Snap it and see the colour inside, smell it next to the dried powder.

Give it a week of cooking, and notice whether knowing where it grew changes how you reach for it, or for any other spice on the shelf.