I never thought I’d do this, but… today I bring to you that health-nutjob hipster neo-classic, the turmeric goddamn latte! I shit you not!

Yes, from my sickbed this week (suffering the mighty man-cold… it’s as bad as they say it is….) I’ve been googling how to get rid of sickness as quick as possible, because I’m unused to being sick, and I suck at it. I just want to get back into livin’ life, and I need to go for a run before I go insane from cabin fever…

Anyhoo, so the googles took me down the rabbithole of Ayurvedic cuisine (which I have a dabbly little penchant for anyways, but take only slightly seriously), and revealed that I could probably knock my man-cold on the head that bit quicker (and address my apparant vata imbalance while I’m at it) if I were to consume copious quantities of turmeric, cinnamon and honey in hot non-dairy milk. I wouldn’t normally be swayed by the sound of that, but from my sickbed, it actually sounded pretty awesome…

Flavour: Warming, sweet & slightly spiced

Serves: 2 mugs

Ingredients:

• 2 cups/500ml of your preferred non-dairy milk (I tend o opt for soy because it’s rich and creamy, but oat milk also ticks that box really nicely)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• quarter teaspoon cinnamon powder
• half teaspoon vanilla extract (or, if you have vanilla pods handy, scrape out the inside of the pod and use that)
• 2 teaspoons honey

Optional extra/s:

• If you want an extra taste-kick, also add a teaspoon of cocoa/raw cacao powder per serve – this is yummy, and certainly doesn’t detract from the health benefits of the other ingredients!
• If you want to add an extra health-kick, also add half a teaspoon of ginger powder – it’s not as potent as the fresh stuff, but it’s more convenient. If you wanted to use the fresh stuff, you’d have to chop it up finely and steep it in the hot milk for some time before straining to remove the fibrous chunks you’re not going to want to drink, and then bringing the milk to the boil with the other ingredients. I recommend giving this a go sometime for the health benefits and warming flavour, but you’ll need a bit more time on your hands.

Directions:

1. Pour your non-dairy milk into a small saucepan, and turn the temperature up to high
2. Add your turmeric, cinnamon and vanilla, whisk well, and bring to the boil
3. Once your mixture has reached boiling point, take off the heat and whisk in your honey (don’t boil the honey – it maintains its healing properties only if you don’t overheat it)
4. Pour into 2 mugs, and note how it stays nice and frothy on top – you might want to garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa powder, but don’t garnish with turmeric powder, as that’ll be bitter and nasty… 😛