With time being of the essence in all respects nowadays, one must prioritize where those precious moments go if you wish to get the most bang for your buck out of this lifetime. So far my results in eating uncooked foods have been worth most of the extra time required to eat this way, but yesterday I had to examine some of my less-significant choices.
Fridays are always crazy-busy, with everyone and her brother wanting to just walk into a massage appointment before the weekend, with traffic multiplying faster than an ebola virus, and with chores that suddenly need to be done before businesses close for two days. Yesterday was no exception; I had workmen coming, a full schedule of work, and a new deadline to meet for a project. Yet, since I am running out of home-dehydrated garlic and turmeric, I somehow thought it was a good time to laboriously peel and process these spices into a fine enough pulp that they dry evenly in my dehydrator, which being an Excaliber brand can be fine-tuned to low temperatures.
Now, have you ever seen fresh turmeric? It's a root related to ginger, and has a long history of health-enhancing properties, as well being a spiffy non-toxic cloth dye. (Read: if it dyes cotton, it'll dye your knives, blender, spatulas, and hands as well -- beware!) It also has little flaps on its coat and tough convolutions that result in big chunks of bitter skin if you use the stuff unpeeled. And do I need to spell out what it's like to peel enough garlic to cover a square foot?
Actually, I did about half a pound of fresh turmeric (not being too picky if some skin remained) and three heads of garlic in just under an hour, which is probably a new world record. My tiny hairless rescued-from-trauma cat loves dehydrating days, because the machine has to run all day and with an old towel on top, it makes a perfect cat-warmer; but it also means that an electric utensil uses energy all day. This is not too significant an investment of electricity, but it still must be factored into the equation. Then, once it's dry enough to pulverize, I have to spend another half-hour or so grinding it into powder in either the VitaMix blender or an electric coffee grinder.
So does the nutritional advantage of all this work and money outweigh the ease of just buying commercial, organic spices? Yes, I believe so. I taste a small but noticeable difference, especially in the turmeric. Undoubtedly fresh is still the ideal use of anything one consumes, but this little habit is one I will maintain when possible. But when I run out or when it is not in season, make no mistake, I'm going to enjoy the luxury of trucking on down to the coop and just buying a little baggie of the stuff!