It seems that everyone is in the know about turmeric's massive health benefits by now. It's naturally anti-inflammatory, a strong anti-oxidant, good for the thyroid, improves brain function, lowers risk of heart disease, and can help prevent cancer. Clearly it’s a great idea to toss some of this valued golden powder into your meals and elixirs, but did you know that the BIOAVAILABILITY of the powerful compounds in turmeric is key to its effectiveness, and there's no sense ingesting this magical golden powder if your body won’t be using it to its full effectiveness! Luckily, it's easy to enhance the bioavailability, blood serum levels, and absorption of the valued curcumins by making a big batch of “turmeric paste” that includes black pepper and coconut oil.

The simple recipe for this paste is below. The black pepper contains piperines which improve the effectiveness of the curcumin compounds. And ingesting the turmeric along with fat as is traditionally done bypasses the liver (at least partially) and helps the curcumin be absorbed directly into the bloodstream via the lymphatic system, so this is a potent mix!

I find that having a jar of this paste in the fridge inspires me to use it more frequently. I know that I'm getting more benefits by preparing it this way, more so that in I were simply using the plain old dried powder. It can be a life-changing addition to any dish, soup, smoothies, a cup of tea, or really any kitchen creation. It's great for having around already-made so you can get this potent medicine into your body where it will do it's magic!

Bioavailable Turmeric Paste

🔸1/2 cup turmeric powder
🔸1 cup water, plus more as needed to get desired paste consistency
🔸1/4-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
🔸1/4 cup coconut oil

Add turmeric and water to a heavy pan, stir well, and begin heating gently. Stir often for about 10 minutes or longer, adding additional water if necessary. I like doing it 15-20 minutes myself, until I end up with a pretty thick paste. Then add in the pepper and oil, and stir everything well to homogenize. Allow it to cool and store in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks a little longer. Dosage is 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of paste per day, which can be blended or simply stirred into a bot milk of your choice, along with your choice of spices or other medicinal herbs, or added to just about anything you don't mind being orange!

While there are so many versions of creamy spice-laden Golden Milk recipes out there, and Turmeric Lattés are all the rage, I admit that my own personal favorite way to consume turmeric paste is as follows.

Dara's Lemon-y hot Turmeric elixir 

In a mug or blender, combine:

🔸fresh squeezed lemon
🔸a knob of ginger,  freshly grated
🔸a bit of raw honey
🔸1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of paste
🔸about 8 ounces of hot water
🔸small spoonful of coconut or Brain Octane oil, optional
🔸sprinkle of cinnamon and/or cardamom

Stir, froth, or blend all together for a delicious, spicy, and warming drink that is really good anytime.