Golden milk is a sweet treat

Turmeric, the day-glow Indian spice, is one of the hottest ingredients around at the moment—and turmeric latte, or “golden milk,” is a delicious recipe for incorporating it into your diet. (Photo: Alpha/Flickr)

With fashion week swirling from New York to London, Milan and Paris, one can’t help but think about ingredients that are in vogue.

Turmeric, the day-glow Indian spice, is one of the hottest ingredients around at the moment—and turmeric latte, or “golden milk,” is a delicious recipe for incorporating it into your diet.

A mild spice, turmeric in its powdered form can be added to most things unobtrusively. At home, when cooking Indian food, we use it in its powdered version in every main meal a quarter of a teaspoon at a time. In small quantities, you barely notice the flavour. It’s mild, mellow and earthy.

Infused into warm milk, like in this turmeric latte, it tastes sweet and zingy. For me (and many Indians), it is the taste of childhood, of a few days off school, tucked up in bed and being looked after.

But now, I need no excuse, I drink it first thing in the morning for a jolt of sunshine or last thing at night for a soothing evening drink. It’s even good cold, as a milkshake, when the weather is unbearably hot.

Turmeric latte

Powdered turmeric is available in most large grocery stores, but fresh tends to found in smaller Asian grocers. Only peel the fresh turmeric if you don’t mind getting yellow fingers, or else, leave unpeeled.

Servings: 2

Start to finish: 10 minutes

1 inch turmeric root, peeled and grated or 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

3/4 inch ginger root, peeled and grated

2 cups milk (I like unsweetened almond, but any is fine)

2 pinches of ground cardamom (optional)

1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons honey (or to taste)

Place the milk, turmeric, ginger, cardamom (if using) and honey into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer then turn the heat off. Leave to infuse for a couple of minutes, stir, then pour the milk through a fine sieve or mesh strainer into two mugs. Squeezing out the last of the gingery turmeric juice with the back of a spoon. Stir and check for sweetness, adding more honey if needed.

Drink right away or refrigerate, it will keep for couple of days. Stir before serving.

Nutrition information per serving: 101 calories; 32 calories from fat; 4 g fat (0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 136 mg sodium; 17 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 14 g sugar; 1 g protein.