Turmeric Coconut Water

I fell in love with this spicy beverage at a tasting in Whole Foods.  The thing is, it's pricey and I don't have a Whole Foods near my house.  So I decided to find turmeric root and get a container of coconut water from Trader Joe's, which is happily near my house, and try to recreate this drink.  I think I did pretty good with the help of recipes from blog posts by Ruth on Tera Werner's site, http://www.terawarner.com/blog/2010/07/raw-recipes-fresh-turmeric-juice/,  and The Starving Fox, http://starvingfox.blogspot.com.

The Middle Eastern grocery store up the block from my house carries turmeric root, it's ugly and looks like grubs.  It's bright orange inside and stains your hands yellow, so wear gloves to protect your hands if you decide to make this.  And you might want to put some newspaper over your counter as a precaution.  I know I'm not the only messy person out there. 

Turmeric root is somewhat of the darling of healthy sites lately.  It's touted for it's anti-inflammatory properties; helping to guard against cancer, arthritis and Alzheimer's; reduced the negative impact of a high fat meal; as well as for skin related issues such as psoriasis, acne and sun damage.  I just know that I like it and that black pepper increases the effectiveness of the turmeric.

Turmeric Coconut Water

5 - 7 pieces of turmeric root (about 3" or the size of your index finger)
1 piece of ginger root (about 3")
1/2 cup of warm filtered water
2 cardamom pods
2 Tbs raw honey
1 lemon
2 cups of coconut water or plain filtered water
1/4 tsp Celtic Sea Salt (plain sea salt will work)
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
A pinch of cayenne

Juice the turmeric root, ginger and lemon.  Put the turmeric root pulp through another time or two to get all of its juice out.

In the meantime warm the 1/2 cup of filtered water until it barely comes to a simmer.  Add in the cardamom and the honey, whisking the honey until it's dissolved.  I let the cardamom sit in there for 10 minutes.

Pour this mix through the juicer when you are finished juicing the turmeric root & ginger.

Add in the sea salt, cayenne, black pepper and the coconut water.

4 oz is a serving, store the rest in a covered glass container in the fridge.

Notes:
You could add orange and/or pineapple and leave the honey out.  I like the antibacterial properties of honey so I added it in.

Another option is to put the roots in a high powered blender and then strain the liquid out.  (then you could just mix in the other ingredients).

Let me know if you make this and how it goes.