Growing Turmeric- 2 - Making Turmeric Powder At Home

Growing turmeric was an experiment I had tried and it turned out to be a success. I had written about it last year. It had been such a pleasure to see the plant bloom in 2017! Later in the year last summer, I had two patches of turmeric growing and to my delight, there were several flowers in each patch.

At one time, there were 7 flowers! 

I had used the leaves for some traditional recipes described here in my previous post. I had also added a small piece of the root in a spice mix.

However, I was told that making turmeric powder is an elaborate process and this underground stem or 'rhizome' needs to be treated a little before you can powder it. I had pushed the project to the back burner for a while. Yesterday, I found a lot of turmeric rhizomes looking up at me!

I dug them out.

And I hosed them down. They cleaned up pretty nicely to reveal fresh, yellow growth.

This is the whole lot dug out and washed. 

They were then put in a pan with enough water to cover them. The water started to boil. Fresh turmeric aroma was filling up the room, but not in an overwhelming way. It was delightful!

I let the water boil for 25-30 minutes. Then, the water was drained out.

When the rhizomes were cool enough to handle, the peeling process began.

They were peeled lightly. The bright yellow turmeric color was now on full display!

The rhizomes were then chopped into little circles. These pieces can be air dried but it has been very wet lately, so I oven dried them. 

This is an update- cutting the rhizomes into long strips works out better especially when you have a large amount to process.

They then went into the oven preheated to 175 deg F. A dehydrator will work great too, but I do not have one. An air fryer with a dehydrator mode also works very well. The bits were dry after 5-6 hours in the oven, and they went into a grinder after they were cool to the touch. 

The Vitamix dry grinding jar is the best tool for the next step. In no time, it produces fine turmeric powder. 

If you do not have one, a coffee grinder like the one below will also work just fine.

Ta-da!!! Here it is! Freshly ground organic homegrown turmeric!!! 

Do share if you found this post helpful, and how your experience goes with this gratifying process!