 Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the history of turmeric is that, according to written history, it has never been found in the wild. Like ever! Never ever! Oh my gosh. Turmeric is the most holy of plants. The Immaculate Plant Conception! Historians believe that turmeric was actually created as a hybrid between curcuma aromatica and another curcuma varietal. Similar to ginger, it's one of the few spices that only grows by planting rhizomes, not seeds. Turmeric's been in use since about 3000 BC, and possibly even longer. In New Delhi, India, 4,500 year old pots were found containing traces of turmeric root, but the western world took a little longer to catch on, as it really didn't get popular in America until about 1980. 80! That was about 40 years ago. What the heck took us so long? We know it today on eccentric nature. And now, the history of turmeric! Turmeric Ecology! One fun aspect of turmeric's history is just how many names it's had throughout the years. First off, the word turmeric comes from the Latin, terra merita, which translates to meritorious earth. All hail the prestigious and glorious turmeric! Turmeric has been called lots of different things depending on where you've lived and when you lived. In ancient Sanskrit alone, turmeric went by over 50 different names, including fun names that translate to things like golden goddess, fortunate, gives delight to the heart, herb, beautiful as night, and the one whose face is light and shining. Wait a second, you tell me one word means all of that? Well, that's one translation of it. Turmeric is actually the name for the Hindu goddess also known as Parvati. But wait, there's more! In Ayurveda, the ancient form of Indian medicine, turmeric has over 100 different names, including one who is victorious over diseases and as beautiful as moonlight. One of turmeric's most famous names, haridra, has several different meanings. Some simply translate it to mean yellow or the yellow one. But breaking haridra down to its root, it actually refers to hari, another name for the Hindu god Vishnu, and dhara, which means what one wears. So basically it means the stuff that Vishnu likes to use on his body. And if it's good enough for Vishnu, it's good enough for me. Origins of turmeric Now that we've gone through some of turmeric's pseudonyms and connection to gods, it's probably no surprise that turmeric comes from southern Asia and most likely from India, which incidentally is the country that still uses it the most. After a while, turmeric and its cousin ginger were taken out of Asia by the Austronesians who helped spread turmeric over the big and briny sea. Before long, turmeric could be found as far as Madagascar and Hawaii. And it didn't take long to make its way across land to other countries as well. There's evidence that it was already in Israel as early as 2600 to 2200 BC, and the first ever written account of turmeric actually comes from Egypt around 1500 BC. Recent research indicates that turmeric was already making its way around the Mediterranean Sea by 1000 BC. Wow, bump the brakes there, mister! Well yes, turmeric was making the rounds of the spice circles of the Mediterranean. It wasn't immediately the most popular kid on the block. Maybe we should call him Cherkiles. In fact, it pretty much disappeared from Europe for about 2000 years, more about this shortly. First off, we need to move back to India, where turmeric was taken off for several reasons, but not as the tasty spice most people know it for. Turmeric the dye! There is archaeological evidence supporting that turmeric was used as a dye before it was used as a food source. In all those famous yellow Buddhist monk robes, well they were traditionally dyed with turmeric and it doesn't just make yellow, depending on the pH level applied during the dyeing process. Turmeric also has the ability to dye materials in orange or red. Turmeric has even been used as a paint pigment and for dyeing foods like cheese and yogurt. Dyeing materials with turmeric became a widespread enterprise, as evidenced by turmeric dyed cloths from Egypt, India and Mesopotamia. And even the traditional bark cloth used by various Polynesian cultures. Some anthropologists believe that turmeric was being used as a dye around the same time that agriculture was first invented. The expansion of turmeric. Well despite being in use for thousands of years and the Austronesians amongst others trying to get turmeric into Europe and Africa, turmeric was really slow to take off in other countries. I can mention how it was very popular in Ayurvedic medicine and with the Vedic culture in India. But really it's not surprising as India is the one place that turmeric's always been revered. It did start taking off in China, as evidenced by its inclusion in the famous Tang Materia Medica of 659 AD. And as the spice trade routes expanded, you can see it taking a foothold in East Africa around 800 AD. Even the famous explorer Marco Polo couldn't get turmeric to take off in medieval Europe when he brought it over around 1200 AD. Part of this is because as a spice on its own, turmeric really isn't that flashy. It's really only as a supporting player in other food dishes that it really shines. Though the biggest problem that turmeric faced was being overshadowed by its arch enemy, saffron. Oh yeah, saffron, well you're not that great, you know, turmeric is just as good as you. Well screw you saffron, you just take your tastiness and just shove it. Before 1000 AD, Spain was one of the only European countries to really become enamored with turmeric, but even they called it curcuma, which is a derivative for the Arabic word for saffron. Even turmeric's biological name still contains curcuma. All of this saffron comparison led turmeric to being called yellow saffron, Indian saffron, and probably the worst poor man's saffron. Probably not a good thing for building your own reputation when you're always being called by another spice's name. Turmeric Goes Sailing. Despite being humiliated for centuries, turmeric slowly started to scrape and claw its way into the hearts of the rest of the world. A big help was the British East India Trading Company, which helped increase the popularity of curry, and concurrently the popularity of turmeric. But this still took a lot of time. As the first mention of curry in Europe was in a Portuguese cookbook from the 17th century, and it wasn't until 1747 that turmeric appeared in hana glosses the art of cookery made plain and easy. And a recipe for Indian turmeric pickle, no less. Unfortunately, turmeric's expansion also went hand in hand with Indian slavery. Between 1838 and 1917, more than half a million Indians were transported to the Caribbean Islands to fill the gap in plantation labor following the abolition of slavery. Ugh, slavery! Why, people? And one of the only good things to come out of this is that the Indians brought turmeric over with them. Small consolation that. Turmeric's Getting Closer. Turmeric's popularity in the scientific world started to take off in the late 19th century, thanks to discoveries like turmeric paper, which is used to test alkalinity. Don't know what that is? Well, look it up. I can't tell you everything. In 1842, two German scientists discovered turmeric's main active agent, curcumin. And the first paper exploring curcumin's medicinal properties appeared in the journal Nature in 1949. And then, turmeric really started to take off. Nope. Eh. Western medicine still turned its nose up to turmeric in dramatic fashion. Talk to the hand. Turmeric arrives in America. It really is amazing how slowly turmeric was accepted in America compared to other herbs and spices. In the early 20th century, Maud Grieve's famous A Modern Herbal only mentions turmeric as a mild aromatic stimulant seldom used in medicine except as a coloring. Wow. Was she ever wrong? And it was only in the 1960s when more scientists started studying turmeric that Americans finally started acknowledging turmeric's benefits. And by the late 2000s, it had finally taken off to the point where turmeric consumption in the United States increased sevenfold from 2009 to 2019. And now, the USA is the largest importer of turmeric in the world. Importing over $46 million of turmeric in 2020, an increase of over $13 million from 2019. Well, this is nothing compared to India that produces and consumes over 80% of the world's turmeric market with the average citizen having over 2 grams of turmeric per day. That is a wide, wide margin. I don't think anybody's catching India. When did you first try turmeric? Let me know in the comments down below. If you want to learn about turmeric's fun cousin Ginger, then watch one of these fun videos right here. Please be kind. Take care of each other and enjoy the power of turmeric.