Turmeric root, fresh ginger with lemon juice, honey and pinch of black pepper is the best turmeric shot recipe with abundant wellness benefits.
Benefits Of Turmeric Shots
Flu season is not the only time to make turmeric shots a part of your daily routine, because the health benefits from this turmeric shot recipe are off the charts!
The great source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties alone make this fresh root a staple in my kitchen.
However, joint pain and the strengthening of my immune system are more reasons to make homemade ginger turmeric shots.
Perfect synergistic blends made at home from fresh raw ingredients, not turmeric powder or ginger powder, will provide the purest shot for a variety of wellness benefits.
Tips In Making Turmeric Wellness Shots
Having worked with each of these ingredients often, I thought it might be helpful to know a few tips making it easier and welcoming to make regularly.
- Turmeric juice, from freshly peeled and shaved turmeric root, stains. It can stain your hands, countertops, the pots and bowls you will be using. However, not to worry, a little vinegar in the washing-up water with dish soap will remove the stains. Perhaps use gloves while working with turmeric root, especially in the winter when our hands are dryer and more easily stained.
- The best nutrition for this recipe will come from fresh and raw ingredients. Use fresh turmeric root instead of turmeric powder, which has had much of the nutrients dried out of it, leaving only the color and some flavor. The same goes for the ginger, use the root and not ginger powder.
- Lemon peels and lemon juice will provide an extra zing of flavor as well as high vitamin C content, so use fresh citrus.
- Long pepper vs black pepper in this health shot is definitely one worth purchasing if possible. The long pepper has notes of cardamom, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg and is hotter and sweeter than black pepper. Since long pepper comes in long thin tubulars, simply break them apart, crush with a mortar and pestle or a quick blitz in a spice grinder.
Nutrition Information Your Body Will Thank You For
The reason I created this health shot in the first place is because winter often makes my joints uncomfortable with minor aches and pains. Relieving inflammation around the joints is going to offer the relief I am looking for, though the turmeric and ginger shot does way more.
- Whether arthritis, sports injuries, or simply aging joints have developed inflammation around them, taking a daily shot of this ‘magic potion’ loaded with curcumin and anti-inflammatory effects, just makes sense rather than buying turmeric shots that may not have the highest quality ingredients. This wellness shot recipe has already reduced the discomfort I was feeling over the holiday season, and it’s only January. I will be raring to go in the garden come spring!
- Ginger is often known for its tummy calming benefits, probably because it too has anti-inflammatory properties. The flavor of turmeric and ginger together is one I particularly like as they enhance each other’s taste, which is why I created a scrumptious Golden Milk Cocktail with the addition of coconut water or milk. Leave out the booze and you have another version of this health shot.
- Why black pepper or long black pepper in turmeric shots? In a study at the Center for Applied Nutrition fascinating information was obtained as to how the peperline in black pepper, aids in the absorption of curcumin in the turmeric.
- Honey, good quality honey used to be carried in every doctors little black bag back in the day, for many reasons. For today’s benefits from honey, suffice it to say that it is loaded with antibacterial and antiviral properties that can help our immune system. Inadvertently, honey helps reduce harmful chemicals within the body leading to a reduction in inflammation that may result from arthritis.
How To Prepare The Roots For Turmeric Ginger Shots
Both roots have a skin on them and are easy to peel with a vegetable peeler which is a great way to expose their fragrant juices and flavors.
A great addition to the flavors that develop in the turmeric and ginger health shots, is with the additional spices or herbs you already love that also boost immunity, such as cinnamon or a hint of aromatic herbs such as rosemary or oregano.
If using cinnamon bark, break it apart and add to the simmering pot, and if using rosemary or oregano, give a rough chop to the herbs to release their nutrients before adding to the simmering pot.
What To Do With The Wellness Recipe Once It Is Made
Since there will be chopped roots, slivers of lemon peels, pieces of hard black pepper simmered into this health mixture, it will develop the most intense nutrient value if left to steep overnight.
With a fine mesh sieve or a nut milk bag (like the one you will see me use when making homemade Almond Milk), place over an empty container large enough to accommodate the liquid, pour it through, press as much liquid out as possible and toss the remain scraps away.
This nutritional ‘Ayurvedic‘ medicine is now ready to transfer to Mason jars to store in the fridge.
Another option is to simply transfer enough for the week’s shots to a glass jar to be kept in the fridge and freeze the remaining liquid in ice cube trays. Once frozen they can be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the freezer as needed.
More Turmeric Recipes From My Kitchen
Whether turmeric is being used in cooking for its color or flavor, it brings both in abundance.
Since turmeric has such a rich orange color, I like to add it to stews and soups that have an orange color anyway, such as my Fesenjan Iranian Chicken Walnut Stew, rich with exotic spices, lots of pumpkin and pomegranate.
Also a soup I make every year on New Year’s Day to get my dietary focus back on nutrition and away from a month of party food, is Carrot Ginger Red Lentil Bisque.
Another soup that follows the holidays, and much needed to put my immune system right for the winter months ahead, is an Immune Boost Vegetable Onion Soup, slow simmered with the natural medicinal properties of veggies and roots, turmeric being among them.
A favorite autumn cocktail from my kitchen is one I call Golden Milk Cocktail, where east meets west, as it is made with coconut milk, fresh turmeric root, warm spices and an anise flavored liqueur.
Equipment Needed
- Food processor or blender – to grind the fresh roots for simmering.
- Large pot with a lid – preferably with a 3-4 quart capacity.
- Fine mesh sieve or a nut milk bag – to strain the steeped liquid from the wellness ingredients once they have steeped.
- Glass jar – to store the juice in the fridge.
- Ice cube trays – to freeze the juice in serving size cubes for later use.
Ingredients Needed
- Fresh turmeric root, not powdered, for the most potent extraction from the natural sources of ingredients.
- Fresh ginger root, not powdered for the same reason as above. When I find both the turmeric and ginger available and for a good price I often buy large quantities, peel, crush and freeze in zip bags for all my culinary uses.
- Black pepper can be used however long black pepper is what I prefer for its more intense and fragrant contribution to the shots.
- Lemon peels and lemon juice for its vitamins and added zing to the flavor.
- Honey, pure raw natural honey. The honey of my choice is Louisa’s Honey from Italy.
- Filtered water.
Turmeric Ginger Shots Recipe
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
- Large pot with lid
- fine mesh sieve or nut milk bag
- ice cube trays
Ingredients
- 6 oz Fresh turmeric root
- 6 oz Fresh ginger root
- 1 tsp Black pepper or long black pepper
- 2 Lemons peels and juice
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 8 cups Filtered water
Instructions
- Peel and grind or finely chop the roots in a food processor or blender to release the bioactive compound and maximum natural juices from the fresh natural ingredients before simmering them.
- Peel the rind from the lemons or oranges and squeeze the juice.
- In a large pot, bring the water to a boil, add the ground roots, the citrus rinds, citrus juice, and pepper. Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cover and whisk in the honey then replace the lid. Allow this mixture to sit out overnight to steep.
- Pour the turmeric juice mixture through a fine mesh sieve or nut milk bag, pressing as much of the liquid through.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for one week, or transfer the liquid to ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen the cubes can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer and thawed as a daily dose. A tablespoon of hot water can be added to the frozen cube in a cup for your daily turmeric health shot.
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