Turmeric Balls

Mr. Premise

The Living Force
I adapted this from a recipe I saw on Facebook.

In a bowl mix 1/3 cup Turmeric powder, 1.5 tablespoons powdered Ginger, 1 teaspoon (or less) powdered Cinnamon, about sixty grinds of pepper (60 twists of a pepper grinder), a quarter or an eighth teaspoon of salt, and the contents of ten capsules of Quercetin. The black pepper and Quercetin make the Turmeric more bioavailable. When mixed add 6-10 drops of liquid Stevia extract and two to three tablespoons coconut oil, stir and the knead it with your hands until it is the consistency of cookie dough. Form into little balls and refrigerate. They will have to stay refrigerated or the will melt.

I haven't gotten the exact proportions right but it's a good start. They taste pretty good! Kind of a Christmas cookie flavor.
 
I've tried eating tumeric lots before, but didn't notice any effects. I only used black pepper to boost its half-life in my system though, so that could be part of the reason. Have you noticed any effects while consuming them? :)
 
whitecoast said:
I've tried eating tumeric lots before, but didn't notice any effects. I only used black pepper to boost its half-life in my system though, so that could be part of the reason. Have you noticed any effects while consuming them? :)
Nope, but I don't think its the type of thing you would feel.
 
Turmeric is very helpful for me, if I take a LOT of it. For instance 2 teaspoons per day. I hadn't heard about combining it with black pepper though.
 
monotonic said:
Turmeric is very helpful for me, if I take a LOT of it. For instance 2 teaspoons per day. I hadn't heard about combining it with black pepper though.
Fwiw here is an article which explains the increased bioavailability when you combine the two.

“Historians from all around the world have produced evidence to show that apparently all primitive peoples used herbs-often in a sophisticated way. Quinine from Cinchona bark was used to treat the symptoms of malaria long before the disease was identified, and the raw ingredients of a common aspirin tablet have been a popular painkiller for far longer than we have had access to tablet-making machinery. Indeed, today many pharmacological classes of drugs include a natural product prototype that we originally discovered through the study of traditional cures and folk knowledge of indigenous people.”

There’s a plant in South Asia called Adhatoda (from adumeaning “goat,” and thoda meaning “not touch” because it’s so bitter even the goats won’t eat it). It has compounds that help open one’s airways and as such, Adhatoda tea has been used traditionally to treat asthma, where the leaves are steeped with black peppercorns. Leaves steeped with black peppercorns? That sounds gross to me—why would they do that? Because they’re smart. Back in 1928, scientists discovered what the people evidently already knew, that adding pepper increased the anti-asthmatic properties of the leaves. Black pepper alone didn’t work: it was the combination. And now we know why.

Just like approximately 5% of the spice turmeric is composed of an active compound called curcumin, about 5% of black pepper by weight is comprised of this compound called piperine. Curcumin is responsible for the yellow color of turmeric and piperine for the pungent flavor of pepper. Piperine is a potent inhibitor of drug metabolism. One of the ways our liver gets rid of foreign substances is making them water soluble so they can be more easily excreted. But this black pepper molecule inhibits that process.

And it doesn’t take much. If people are given a bunch of turmeric curcumin, within an hour there’s a little bump in the level in their blood stream. We don’t see a large increase because our liver is actively trying to get rid of it. But what if the process is suppressed by taking just a quarter teaspoon’s worth of black pepper? Then you see curcumin levels skyrocket (See Boosting the Bioavailability of Curcumin). The same amount of curcumin consumed, but the bioavailability shoots up 2000%. Even just a little pinch of pepper—1/20th of a teaspoon—can significantly boost levels. And guess what a common ingredient in curry powder is besides turmeric? Black pepper.

Another way to boost the absorption of curcumin is to consume it in the whole food, turmeric root (fresh or dried as a powder) because natural oils found in turmeric root and turmeric powder can enhance the bioavailability of curcumin seven to eight fold. When eaten with fat, curcumin can be directly absorbed into the bloodstream through the lymphatic system thereby in part bypassing the liver.

How is it prepared in India? With fat and black pepper. Amazing how they could figure that out without double blind trials. (Though maybe it just tastes good, and it’s merely coincidence?) Their traditional knowledge certainly failed them with ghee, however, which is practically pure butter fat, which may explain India’s relatively high rates of heart disease despite all their turmeric.

Why would we care about boosting curcumin levels? Learn why in my videos Which Spices Fight Inflammation? and Spicing Up DNA Protection, Turmeric Curcumin and Rheumatoid Arthritis and Turmeric Curcumin and Osteoarthritis. It’s also good to know Who Shouldn’t Consume Curcumin or Turmeric

I’ve previously covered this topic of food synergy in videos such as Apples and Oranges: Dietary Diversity and Garden Variety Anti-Inflammation that emphasize the importance of eating a variety of plant foods to take advantage of some of these interactions.

The black pepper mechanism reminds me of the grapefruit (Tell Your Doctor If You Eat Grapefruit) and broccoli (The Best Detox) stories. A testament to the power of plants

The painkilling properties of aspirin mentioned in the video are actually found throughout the plant kingdom: Aspirin Levels in Plant Foods.

In some circumstances, traditional medicine wisdom seems incredible (Tomato Effect); in others, dangerous (Get the Lead Out). But that’s what we now have science for
Link :_http://nutritionfacts.org/2015/02/05/why-pepper-boosts-turmeric-blood-levels/
 
Thank you for the info. I'll try that.

Slowing down the liver may keep medicine in the system longer, but you do need a working liver... I wonder where the boundaries lie for this sort of thing.
 
Thanks for sharing. Looks and sounds great. I'll get the spices from the same store that sells coconut oil next time.

Thanks for that article, Keyhole, good info (except about the ghee/fat being responsible for heart disease - much more likely that they eat way to many carbs along with fat). I'd read about black pepper boosting the availability of turmeric in another thread on the forum too. My mother has been taking two capsules of whole turmeric root powder after a fatty breakfast which includes two egg yokes with black pepper. But these turmeric balls will have way more dosage than the supplements.
 
Mr. Premise said:
I haven't gotten the exact proportions right but it's a good start. They taste pretty good! Kind of a Christmas cookie flavor.
Mr. Premise, are you sure the recipe was meant to say 1/3 of a cup of turmeric?

I have just made a batch and when I tried a piece i had to spit it out because the turmeric was so bitter. Have you found this with yours? It may just be the turmeric I am using, but I'm pretty sure that most turmeric has a bitter flavour.
 
monotonic said:
Turmeric is very helpful for me, if I take a LOT of it. For instance 2 teaspoons per day. I hadn't heard about combining it with black pepper though.

I always combine my tumeric (1 tea spoon) with black pepper and oil(olive, coconut, avocado....) to have a better lasting effect on my body. I have been doing that for quite a while and last time I passed a blood test, my C-Reactive protein test was very very low (supposed to determine the inflammation in our body)
 
Keyhole said:
Mr. Premise said:
I haven't gotten the exact proportions right but it's a good start. They taste pretty good! Kind of a Christmas cookie flavor.
Mr. Premise, are you sure the recipe was meant to say 1/3 of a cup of turmeric?

I have just made a batch and when I tried a piece i had to spit it out because the turmeric was so bitter. Have you found this with yours? It may just be the turmeric I am using, but I'm pretty sure that most turmeric has a bitter flavour.
Yes 1/3 cup. The salt and the stevia should help with the bitterness, also leaving out the cinnamon. My family won't eat them either but I think they're delicious. Could be I like bitter.
 
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