Turmeric

Turmeric has been used in Asia for centuries and is a major part of?Ayurveda,?Siddha medicine,?traditional Chinese medicine,?Unani,?and the animistic rituals of?Austronesian peoples.It was first used as a?dye, and then later for its supposed properties in?folk medicine.

From India, it spread to Southeast Asia along with Hinduism and Buddhism, as the yellow dye is used to color the robes of monks and priests. Turmeric has also been found in?Tahiti,?Hawaii?and?Easter Island?before European contact.There is linguistic and circumstantial evidence of the spread and use of turmeric by the?Austronesian peoples?into Oceania and Madagascar. The populations in?Polynesia?and?Micronesia, in particular, never came into contact with India, but use turmeric widely for both food and dye. Thus independent domestication events are also likely.

Turmeric was found in?Farmana, dating to between 2600 and 2200 BCE, and in a merchant’s tomb in?Megiddo, Israel, dating from the second millennium BCE.^[18]?It was noted as a dye plant in the?Assyrians‘ Cuneiform medical texts from?Ashurbanipal?s library at Nineveh from 7th century BCE.?In?Medieval Europe, turmeric was called “Indian?saffron.