Lakadong Turmeric Powder

Lakadong is a turmeric variety grown in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, known for a curcumin content well above ordinary commercial turmeric and for its deep orange-red colour. It is grown in limited quantity, which is why it costs more.

Add a teaspoon to water with a few drops of dilute hydrochloric acid. Pure turmeric turns pink or violet and the colour disappears on further dilution. If the pink persists after diluting, metanil yellow is present. A drop of iodine turning the mixture blue-black indicates added starch.

Lakadong is naturally a deeper orange-red than common yellow turmeric varieties. Pale turmeric that has been brightened with dye looks vivid yellow rather than deep orange. Colour here comes from the variety, not from a bottle.

We publish the batch test reports on our lab reports page, and curcumin is among the parameters tested. Because it is a crop it varies between harvests, so we report the batch figure rather than quote a single fixed number.

The aroma and volatile oils fade within a few months; the colour lasts considerably longer. So an old turmeric still looks fine and tastes of much less, which is the argument for buying smaller quantities more often.

It does not become unsafe so much as it goes flat. Rub a pinch between your fingers and smell it: fresh powder releases aroma at once. If you have to work at it, the volatile oils have gone and it is time to replace it, however good the colour still looks.

Either, as long as it is airtight and opaque. Light does more damage than the container material. A steel dabba or a tinted jar in a cupboard beats a clear glass jar on the shelf above the hob every time.

Better not. Taking a cold jar in and out of a warm kitchen condenses moisture inside it, and damp powder cakes and can grow mould. A cool, dark cupboard is the right place.

Timing, mostly. A packet was ground in a factory months earlier and has been sitting since. Ours is milled to order from whole spice you can look at first, so the aromatic oils are still in the powder, and nothing is added at any point - no colour, no starch, no anti-caking agent.

Milled to order. Whole spice is kept in store and ground when you buy it or when your order is packed. We do not hold ground stock, which is the whole reason the shop has a mill in the customer area.