Turmeric Latte

~Amanda~

Turmeric Lattes are one of my favorite things right now and I am not ashamed for jumping on this latest foodie trend, I mean turmeric is basically the new kale these days and everybody is posting about it. I have been adding turmeric to my meals (hello curry!) and making turmeric lattes, both hot and cold, for a long time now – and I regularly stock up on the Rebbl golden milks at the grocery store so I always have some on hand. Yes, the beautiful bright yellow color caught my eye and the health benefits are astounding (we’ll get to those later), but the reason I keep coming back for more? I love the flavor! Flavor should always be the most important part, because we all want to enjoy what we’re putting into our bodies. Turmeric has an earthy-sweet flavor and when you combine it with other spices like cinnamon and ginger it is reminiscent of my other favorite beverage, a chai latte, and I can’t seem to get enough.

Let’s talk about those health benefits, because there are A LOT of them! The most active ingredient in turmeric is Curcumin. (Note: to really achieve the full effects of any of these health benefits, you would need to take a supplement that is very high in Curcumin. This latte will give you some of that good juju, but it’s not going to change your life). Curcumin has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a great antioxidant and it even helps to boost the activity of your body’s own antioxidant enzymes. These anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties can also help with your skin, decreasing acne and helping to get that beautiful glow. If you’re an IBS sufferer, it can reduce inflammation and help to decrease abnormal muscle movements and alleviate bloating and gas pain, helping your system process food more easily. Curcumin has also been proven to help lower cholesterol, which is something that can benefit so many of us.

There is a lot of debate on whether or not you need to add anything to turmeric to help with its absorption in the body, like black pepper or fats like coconut oil; some studies will tell you that you absolutely don’t need to and others say that it’s extremely important. Rather than get caught up in that debate, I just say why not?! There are health benefits to be gained from black pepper and you just need a pinch of it to help with absorption, so the flavor is not really noticeable at all (if you do taste the pepper and aren’t a fan of it, add some coconut oil instead; saturated fat also helps to increase the absorption). Why black pepper? It contains the compound, piperine, which inhibits breakdown of turmeric compounds in the gut and the liver, keeping higher levels of the compounds in the body and increasing those health benefits.  

Now onto the good stuff – how do you make a turmeric latte? Let’s start with the milk… I go dairy free whenever I can, so naturally I use dairy free milks in these plus I love the extra flavor you get from them; I do a combo of half coconut milk and half cashew milk, but it’s totally up to you to use whatever you like best. Buy the stuff in the cartoons at your grocery store, not canned coconut milk, and make sure it’s plain and unsweetened – we don’t want any added sugar. Next up, the spices; ground turmeric, make sure it’s organic and good quality, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper. Then to sweeten it up a bit I add some vanilla bean paste (my mother in law got me the BEST stuff for christmas and I use it in everything I possibly can) and pure maple syrup. Put everything in a blender and pulse it until it’s just combined and pour it over ice to serve. I make the full batch and keep any leftovers in the fridge for a few days so I can have a glass anytime. Enjoy!