1- Health Benefits of Turmeric

2- Black Pepper: The Good and Bad Health Effects

Turmeric 

Is a flowering plant, Curcuma longa of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the roots of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, that requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F) and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered each year for their rhizomes, some for propagation in the following season, and some for consumption.

The rhizomes are used fresh or boiled in water and dried, after which they are ground into a deep orange-yellow powder commonly used as a coloring and flavoring agent in many Asian cuisines, especially for curries, as well as for dyeing, characteristics imparted by the principal turmeric constituent, curcumin.

Turmeric powder has a warm, bitter, black pepper-like flavor and earthy, mustard-like aroma.

Curcumin, a bright yellow chemical produced by the turmeric plant, is approved as a food additive by the World Health Organization, European Parliament, and United States Food and Drug Administration.

Although long used in Ayurvedic medicine, where it is also known as Haridra, there is no high-quality clinical evidence for using turmeric or curcumin to treat any disease.

Black pepper

Is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning? When fresh and fully mature, the fruit is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red, and contains a single seed, like all drupes. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit), or white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).

Black pepper is native to present-day Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India, and is extensively cultivated there and in other tropical regions.

Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavor and as traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spicy from the capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is ubiquitous in the Western world as a seasoning and is often paired with salt and is available on dining tables in shakers or mills.

Source : kingnature Kurkuma Vida