A couple of days ago, my wife told me that they have found that curry helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease (in rats). My first response was “what do they mean Curry?”
(Curry rant follows)
What we commonly refer to as curry powder is made up of a number of ingredients and varies by manufacturer. Curry is actually a type of dish and not a spice. It is common in South Asian cooking to use a Masala (spice mixture) when making a Curry. If you don’t make your own you can buy preground curry masalas. Often the masala is tailored to the dish being prepared, i.e. you would not necessarily use the same masala for chicken curry as you would for an eggplant or cauliflower dish, if this where the case all South Asian food would taste the same. Often times various spices are added at different times during the cooking process so sometimes spices for a dish cannot even be premixed. Curry powder, however, has found it’s way into many cuisines. In Southeast Asia you find various types of curry powder that are for specific types of dishes, for example “Baba’s meat curry” from Malaysia. Often there are merchants of Indian descent who can grind spices to your specific needs. In the West, however, it is, in fact, not unlike the premixed dried herbs labeled “Italian seasoning”, a gross oversimplification of an entire cuisine. In the West Indies, however, communities of South Asian decent do use a “curry powder” to make their dishes. Always exceptions. But curry is not a power made from the “curry plant” or some such thing. Curry it not made up of a singular thing.
Sooooooooo anyway, we looked up the article and found this on Web MD.
I quote “Curcumin -- also known as cumin or curry -- is a natural spice that has high levels of phenols, potent antioxidants that can prevent cell damage caused by free radicals. Curcumin is extracted from the rhizome of the Curcuma Longa plant; it has the distinctive yellow pigment of curry, writes researcher Claudia Colombrita, PhD, with the Universita di Catania in Italy.”
This is so wrong (at least the first part). Cumin is not curcumin. We all know cumin, it is an ingredient in many “curry powders” as well as “chili powder”. It is not also know as curry, curry is not a spice. There are in fact curry leaves, a common ingredient in South Indian cooking, but not found often in curry powder as dried and ground they have little flavor. Curcumin is, in fact, turmeric, and to be fair, it is the Curcuma Longa rhizome.
When I used to spend a lot of time with Thai Buddhist monks I often saw turmeric (kamin in Thai) use for medicinal purposes. Often it was rubbed on sores and I believe I saw it taken in capsules to relieve digestive distress. Turmeric does not figure heavily in the cuisine of central Thailand, despite the large number of “curries” prepared. In the south of Thailand, however, it is used quite a bit. It is mostly used in its fresh form. Fresh turmeric looks like a thin cousin of ginger. It’s brown or tan on the outside. When you peel it you reveal a yellow to bright orange flesh. It’s usually ground to a paste with other ingredients. There is also variety of white turmeric that’s eaten raw as a vegetable. Fresh turmeric has a different smell than it’s dried counterpart. Sometime it’s available in the frozen section of Thai groceries.
Here’s an article that correctly identifies turmeric as the subject of this current research.
Indecently, turmeric is also an ingredient in yellow mustard (it makes it yellow).
I do have some recipes for Brain curry.