Tumeric and Ginger Made Easy

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In the past few years I’ve begun to feel my arthritis and other sore bones and muscles more. I started looking at Anti-Inflammatory diets and recommendations. If you start reading on the internet you won’t get far before you find suggestions to eat more Turmeric and Ginger. These spices are common in many Asian and Middle Eastern dishes, but they are also part of many folk remedies. 
About the same time, someone who has a grandmother from India suggested drinking Golden Milk for an illness. He said this and local honey were her go-to remedies.  Golden Milk is milk with turmeric and is widely regarded as anti-inflammatory and good for whatever ails you. 
I started wondering how I could get more of this in my diet. You can usually find whole ginger root in my kitchen and I would buy whole turmeric root for use in broths, but didn’t use either on a daily basis. 

I decided to see how they play together, so I got out my microplane grater and started in on a turmeric root, a ginger root, a handful of fresh garlic cloves and some lime zest. 
The result was a small bowl of pulp. I added the juice from my naked lime and a good pinch of salt. 
This mixture went on a piece of trout and onto the grill. The result was so yummy that I started wondering how else I could use it. I have put it in scrambled eggs, in tofu, in curries, and really anything savory.  If I ate meat I would add it to ground beef and make hamburger patties, rub it on chicken breasts, or pork tenderloins. It would be a good flavoring in rice or noodles, especially with a stir fry.
The biggest problem with this whole idea is the turmeric. It turns everything yellow! It took several washings to get my fingernails and hands to go back to their usual color! 
Also sometimes the ginger and turmeric would dry out or go moldy before I could use it all. I always hate wasting food!!
So, the answer was the Vitamix! A blender or food processor would also work here. 
I peeled the roughest peel off the roots, chopped them into ½ inch – ¾ inch pieces, and put them in the blender – the whole package. Usually 10-15 turmeric roots, an equal amount of ginger root, 20-40 garlic cloves (depending on your liking of garlic), the zest and juice of 5 or 6 limes and 2 tsp of salt (more or less according to your liking for salt).  Process it until it is as close to a puree as possible. 

Then freeze it in usable chunks. This could be done in an ice cube tray. I used my egg bite molds (they are now yellow!!). You may have something similar in your cabinets. A silicone mini muffin pan would be good. A metal muffin tin would work, but you might need to use cupcake paper to make them come out easier. 
I think I’m going to call them GTG Pucks! And it may all be in my mind – but I don’t care – my hands don’t hurt as much. An easy, delicious and healthy addition to our anti-inflammatory diet!

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