Known for giving curry powder its golden color, turmeric is more than just a tasty spice. Using turmeric dates all the way back to 4,000 years ago in India, according to the Herbal Medicine. 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.