Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
Sumiran Pandey and Dr. Usha Singh

Abstract:
Turmeric is one of the most commonly used spice in the Indian kitchen. Curcumin is the principal phytochemical present in turmeric which is responsible for its numerous therapeutic and medicinal benefits. Apart from curcumin, it also contains considerable amount of other phytochemicals like polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins. The present study was conducted to analyse the consumption pattern of turmeric and turmeric based products among the respondents of Pusa block to get an overview of how people make use of this star Indian spice in their daily lives. The survey results showed that the most common processing method used for processing turmeric was one and a half hour followed by one month drying in sun and manual polishing. The mean of total turmeric consumed per consumption unit per day was 3.25 gm and the mean of amount of curcumin consumed per day per consumption unit came out to be 0.13 grams. Consumption pattern of turmeric among people is such that, they use turmeric for various reasons like, for the sake of adding colour to their daily meals, as a matter of belief, for taste, wound treatment, for feeding cattle, for treating cold and cough etc.