Golden Milk

Golden milk is a popular drink these days, but you need to be careful. A lot of cafes will add a ton of sugary syrups to what is otherwise supposed to be a nutritious and healing drink. As a result, I suggest either getting a Golden Milk pre-mix from a natural food store that you like and know the ingredients, OR you can make it at home! My recipe is very simple, and can be adjusted to your personal tastes.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk of choice (almond, coconut, soy, regular dairy, etc)

1 tsp ground turmeric OR 1 inch fresh turmeric

1/4 tsp ground ginger OR a bit of fresh grated ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of black pepper if desired, but not necessary*

small pinch of salt

1-2 tsp (to taste) of coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup. I prefer coconut sugar because it has tons of minerals and is low on the glycemic index. If you’re going to use honey, then use the raw unpasteurized version and add it at the end. If you overheat the honey, you’ll lose some of the health benefits.

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and warm until almost simmering. Don’t boil. If your turmeric and ginger are fresh, then you can take your warm spiced milk mixture and add it to a blender with the turmeric and ginger and blend until everything is incorporated.

So why drink golden milk? It’s currently popular because of the health benefits of turmeric. A powerful anti-inflammatory, ingesting turmeric regularly can help with all kinds of ailments. Fun fact: once I had terrible headaches as a result of my monthly cycle, and pain meds weren’t helping. So I spent the day drinking turmeric tea (and splurged for the fresh stuff). It helped so much! My headaches were really toned down as a result of this natural gold. I’m not at all suggesting that you use turmeric to replace pain medication that is prescribed for a specific purpose, but if you’re at home dealing with minor aches and pains associated with a tough day at the gym, OR if you suffer from chronic inflammation and want to give your regular meds a natural boost, then turmeric may be a good thing to add into your daily routine!

*some believe black pepper is required to activate the turmeric. This is true if you are taking a supplement that has altered the natural state of the turmeric. If your turmeric is whole, then black pepper is not required. That said, it does add a nice little spice!

If you’re feeling like trying another hack and have a milk steamer, then you can add all of the ingredients to a bit of hot water and mix, and then add the steamed milk on top and blend everything up using a hand blender or even just stir well. I do this when I’m feeling a bit lazy.