Turmeric replacement: How to replace the spice

Turmeric can usually be replaced quickly and easily. If you don't have the spice powder in the house right now, there are good alternatives that you can find in your spice cabinet. Maybe you even have turmeric in the house without you knowing it.

Turmeric replacement on the kitchen shelf

Turmeric not only gives dishes an exotic taste, but also a yellow color. The powder is obtained from the root of the turmeric plant and is mainly used in southern and southeast Asian cuisine.

• Turmeric is an integral part of a spice powder that can be found in most kitchens in Germany: the curry powder. Curry is a mixture of spices in which various spices can be found.
• The fact that curry powder is almost always bright yellow is due to the amount of turmeric, which is why it can be used as a substitute if you do not have pure turmeric powder in the house.

Since other spices such as ginger, cinnamon, paprika powder and nutmeg are also used in curry powder, you should season carefully if you use the spice mixture as a substitute for turmeric. Therefore, first use a little less curry powder than the recipe for turmeric and taste to taste.

Yellow color thanks to saffron

Another good, albeit expensive, turmeric replacement is saffron. The saffron threads have a very intense taste and, like turmeric and curry powder, ensure that your exotic dishes turn yellow.

• Saffron is also often a component of curry powder and is used in Indian cuisine as well as in Spanish paellas or in Persian dishes.
• Since saffron has a lot of its own taste and tastes a bit bitter when taken in too high a dose, you should be careful with this turmeric substitute. First use only a few threads and taste the dish.

You can add all the threads to the food and simmer for a few minutes, or you can crush the threads with a pinch of sugar in a mortar.