You may love turmeric in your coffee or latte. But do you know it's great with hot chocolate too? In this recipe, we'll show you how to make vegan and refined sugar-free turmeric hot chocolate — a comforting anti-inflammatory drink.
Turmeric is such a beautiful spice. Apart from giving your dishes a gorgeous golden colour, it's also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Turmeric contains the compound curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory properties. But did you know that your body cannot fully absorb curcumin by itself? It needs a little help.
Certain compounds boost the acceptance of curcumin in your body, making turmeric more effective. One of these compounds is piperine, found in black pepper. Moreover, curcumin is liposoluble: it needs fats to be digestible.
So unless you pair turmeric with a fatty base and piperine, your body won't get any noticeable anti-inflammatory boost.
Worry not, as we used all the right ingredients to make this turmeric chocolate a success. The two magic ingredients (apart from cocoa powder) are coconut milk and a tiny pinch of pepper.
Coconut drink is among the "fattiest" of the vegan milk substitutes, which helps the curcumin dissolve. Pepper goes well with chocolate, just like chillies, and it adds an interesting tingle to this classic comfort drink. Ready to slurp on this? Follow along, and it's in your cup in less than 5 minutes.
