Remember that crazy Vietnamese blue turmeric that we posted about on Instagram? Well here it is.
Don't expect a blue powder: it loses the crazy blue color in the drying process, and the powder is the yellow/green color you see at the top of this turmeric rhizome.
It's a new spice for us, but here's our initial take: It has a bitter, pine-y, medicinal flavor that would work well in bitters. Small amounts could balance the sweetness in desserts and cocktails or add depth to curries and blended veggies soups.
- Origin: Nghe An, Vietnam
- Processing: Sliced, then sun-dried
- Ingredients: 100% blue turmeric powder (Curcuma Caesia)
- Tasting Notes: Baked Apple • Toasted Almond • Smoke
COOKING TIPS
- This is a new spice for us. Let us know how you're using it!
SOURCING
This blue turmeric come from Nghe An, Vietnam, where a cooperative of 22 farmers grow turmeric with incredibly high curcumin! Most of what they grow gets turned into turmeric starch - they wash, peel and pulp the fresh turmeric, press it into a juice and collect the starch that settles at the bottom of the buckets. Once it's dried, it turns into a chalky, almost flavorless powder that's used as a health supplement in Vietnam.
Tran Thi Van is one of the women who lead the cooperative. She went from being a farmer to building a big, beautiful and incredibly well-organized processing facility to being a mainstay of her community of farmers, helping her neighbors increase the quality and quantity of their own turmeric crops.
Plus, her turmeric is incredible, with a great herbal flavor and extremely high curcumin. We're really excited to be working with her.