Go to Lakadong for the best turmeric in the world

Jyoti Pande Lavakare

FOR those who have grown up on a daily glass of doodh with haldi in it, turmeric’s rockstar international status as a healing herb should come as no surprise. Your grandmother knew all about it much before Whole Foods began selling it in convenient bottles and Starbucks put Golden Turmeric Latte on its menu.   

Almost all the world’s turmeric comes from India where it has for generations been recognized for its restorative values especially with milk — haldi and doodh. And in India itself, if you want to track down the very best turmeric, you must make the journey to Lakadong, a speck on the map in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.

The turmeric at Lakadong has more curcumin in it than any other variety. It is the curcumin in turmeric that has awesome properties. It reduces inflammation, heals cuts and wounds and offers protection against, even reverses, cellular damage. From curcumin comes the yellow of turmeric.

In India, turmeric serves as seasoning apart from being good for the health. Fitting it into your diet, a spoon here and there, as happens in Indian kitchens, provides some of the protection needed against the rough and tumble of daily living. Don’t expect miraculous cures. But doing the grandmotherly thing of making turmeric a part of one’s life almost certainly has long-term, foundational benefits.  

Lakadong turmeric is very special. If most turmeric has two to six percent of curcumin, the Lakadong variety weighs in at over seven percent. Rainfall, soil, micro-organisms and traditional growing practices, friendships and rivalries with other local plants make it unique.

Ironically, I learnt about the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin in 2006, while living far from India.

Having spent a small fortune buying bottles of curcumin tablets from Whole Foods over the years, even after returning to the homeland, I was thrilled to discover Lakadong turmeric in 2018 at a sprawling organic fair held at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts, an outstanding government initiative that should have been repeated annually to offer Indian farmers a platform for their produce.

By 2018, I had learnt even more about the neurogenerative, cardioprotective, antimicrobial, and anti-rheumatic properties of turmeric and knew its bioavailability was activated and enhanced by combining it with pepper. So, when I found small bottles of different combinations (Lakadong turmeric with pepper, Lakadong turmeric with ginger, Lakadong turmeric with dry garlic, etc), I greedily bought as much as I could find at the fair, gifting these bottles liberally to friends, especially those who were then recovering from illnesses or surgeries.

But it wasn’t until last month that I went to the land of Lakadong turmeric, in the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya where it is grown organically without the use of fertilizers.

The mounds and mounds of turmeric powder in Burra Bazaar in Shillong, nestled between the local black sesame, whole pepper, bay leaf and other spices, dried fish from the azure streams and rivers we had passed, varieties of red rice and black rice, bright yellow pineapples and emerald green produce, banana blossoms and bamboo shoots from the local hills. It was truly a sight for sore eyes. 

There were more delightful sights in the rural hamlets we passed while chasing spectacular waterfalls and sacred forests in this beautiful northeastern state that shares a border with Assam. It struck me that these traditional items — from the dried smoked pork, traditional exotic rice to the local varieties of alcoholic rice wines —  are as much a part of our intangible heritage and culture, passed on more from oral learnings and received wisdom than any formal documentation.

In December last year, Meghalaya’s Lakadong turmeric was awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, along with Garo dakmanda, the region’s  Garo Hills’ traditional dress, Larnai pottery and Garo chubitchi (alcoholic rice beverage). This pure, potent and organic turmeric, grown in the Lakadong area of the Jaintia Hills, has the highest curcumin content globally and the GI tag will help farmers in marketing and give customers access to the authentic product, the state agriculture minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh, declared.

Reports said around 14,000 farmers from 43 villages of the Lakadong area cultivate the turmeric variety on 1,753 hectares and Lyngdoh said the GI tag will provide local farmers with a unique selling point, fetching a good market price.

Equally important, consumers like us will benefit from the high curcumin content of this turmeric variety which helps repair and heal internal (as well as external) injuries.

As someone who has always ground my own turmeric powder from the root at home after washing and drying in the sun (for fear of pesticides, chemicals and so on) it is an absolute delight to buy organic Lakadong turmeric.

I have always found Lakadong turmeric pure (there are several home tests to check for purity) and if one buys it from reliable sources in Meghalaya, then even sceptics like me can forgo the hard work of grinding turmeric at home, a very tough job that I’ve lost many mixer blades to.

What is so special about the high curcumin content of Lakadong turmeric, you may well ask. Here’s a quick primer on the amazing medicinal properties and health benefits of curcumin.

Turmeric contains curcuminoids, of which the main three are curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Of all these compounds, curcumin is the most active and most beneficial to health. It is the main active ingredient in turmeric and has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and anti-carcinogenic properties. Oxidative damage, which speeds up aging and triggers many diseases via unstable free radicals is also repaired by curcumin, which is a potent antioxidant that can neutralize free radicals due to its chemical structure. Curcumin also has neurogenerative properties. Animal and human studies have found that it can increase brain levels of BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which improves memory, attention and learning.  It can even reverse or delay Alzheimer’s disease, depression and other age-related decreases in brain function. Brain neurons are capable of forming new connections even for adults, and in certain areas of the brain they can multiply.

Curcumin may also help protect against heart disease. Endothelial dysfunction is a major driver of heart disease, when your endothelium or blood vessel lining is unable to regulate blood pressure and blood clotting. Curcumin helps improve vascular endothelial function and heart health, specifically, by reducing inflammation and oxidation.

It can also contribute to the death of cancerous cells, reduce growth of new blood vessels in tumours and reduce the spread of cancer. There is also evidence that curcumin may prevent cancer from occurring in the first place, especially cancers of the digestive system like colorectal cancer.

Curcumin is also considered excellent for arthritis and its related pain. It seems to be more effective in relieving pain than a placebo in osteoarthritis, its effect similar to that of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In another study on rheumatoid arthritis, curcumin appeared to have helped reduce disease-related inflammation.

Of course, one can’t consume the quantities of curcumin required to heal cancers, heart and other disease or derive them from daily intake of turmeric — the quantities needed would be too large. To help heal specific diseases, one would have to take supplements, under the supervision of a physician. I’m happy to report that curcumin supplements are now available in India as well; so goodbye, Whole Foods! But if one wants the general benefits of turmeric’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nature for disease prevention as well as its overall repair and healing properties from daily consumption, just add Lakadong turmeric to your food — it goes very well in practically every dish in Indian cooking.

Remember, it helps to consume turmeric with black pepper, which contains piperine, a natural substance that enhances the absorption of curcumin. Additionally, the body absorbs curcumin better in fat, undoubtedly the reason why it has traditionally been lovingly given with milk.