Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

HUE and cry

PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN

GIVE ME RED But, is the bright red colour of the chilli powder genuine?

Gleaming orange kesari, raw mango chunks pepped up with bright red chilli powder, lemon-yellow turmeric powder to brighten up dal…sounds delicious; but the bitter truth is, these colourful powders we buy from stores may actually be loaded with toxic additives.

Grind turmeric at home, and you will know that pure turmeric powder has a mustard tone. The bright, lemon-yellow shade in turmeric powder sold in packets signals adulteration with finely-powdered yellow chalk, or yellow synthetic colorants. So while the pinch of home-ground turmeric powder that our grand moms added to dishes was a health shield — turmeric being anti-microbial, mucolytic, a tumor suppressor and also a liver tonic — the pinch of the powder we now add may actually be ravaging our tissues.

Likewise, genuine chilli powder is dull red in colour; bright red chilli powder suggests addition of carcinogenic agents such as sudan, kumkum or brick powder. Coriander powder is often adulterated with dried horse dung, and pepper powder with powdered, dry papaya seeds.

The bright colour of some colourful food may come from synthetic colours such as Blue 1, Blue 2, Red 3, Red 4 and Yellow 6 which are suspected to be harmful to health, even carcinogenic. The attractive orange colour we add to kesari may be toxic to our tissues. Use of harmful food colorants is rampant in India, and many restaurants use liberal doses of these to make dishes look attractive. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), India has found the presence of harmful chemicals in spice powders.

Made at home

Many women have taken to grinding their own culinary powders at home. “It was difficult to make the initial shift. But now, it has become a routine,” says R. Mamtha, who grinds a sufficient quantity of turmeric, chilli, coriander and cumin powder in her neighbourhood flour mill — enough to last her for a year.

Lavanya Kumar grinds a combination of wheat soya, ragi and corn to get a wholesome chappathi flour. “Rather than a pinch of off-the-store garam masala powder, just add clove, cinnamon and cardamom to the fresh masala you grind,” she suggests.

You can also prepare your own foaming herbal shampoo powder (shikakai, boondi kottai, paasi payaru in the proportion 1:3:1, with a sprinkling of methi seeds, after sun-drying the ingredients).

Time vs. Health

Almost everything seems to be available off the rack now. Busy lives, and the increasing dependence on quick-fix meals and instant gratification makes us plump for easy options.

But as Dr. R. Parthasarathy, family physician, says, “We should not add to taste by subtracting health. And if we think that we are too busy to take time to cook safe, we may ultimately end up spending more time in hospital.”

There really is no free lunch.

Preservatives and packaging

“I am so tired at the end of the day that I turn to ready meals,” says Ragini; but quick fixes like frozen dinners are only going to land her in trouble. Perhaps, busy people like her could make a meal of fruits and milk or curds instead. Frozen food is extensively processed, and so would have very little of its original nutritive value; it is also salt-laden to ensure preservation.

If you do have to buy ‘preserved’ food, check its additives. For instance, propyl gallate, BHA and BHT, the preservatives used to prevent fats and oils like vegetable oil, meat products and chewing gum from spoiling, and potassium bromate, the additive used by some in breads and rolls are cancerous. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavour enhancer in packaged foods like soups, has been linked to headache, nausea and cardiac complications. Aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in some soft drinks, has been shown to cause brain tumours, lymphomas and leukaemia in rats, besides headaches, dizziness and hallucinations in human beings. Olestra, the fat substitute, can cause diarrhoea and abdominal cramping.

Likewise, our desi chips — vadams — are a better alternative to the popular namkeens sold in packets, because they are loaded with flavour, colour additives and extra sodium. Excess sodium not only causes hypertension in adults, but may also cause behavioural problems such as restlessness, aggressiveness and learning disabilities in children.

And finally, be wary of the packing. PVC (polyvinyl chloride) sheets, a commonly used food wrap is a known carcinogen. More so when it is used to pack warm or fatty foods such as hot sambar which helps release the PVC into the food.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail