Turmeric root (terra merita)

Turmeric root (terra merita)

Turmeric, or Curcuma longa, is part of the Zingiberaceae family and is a rhizomatous plant like ginger. The roots are bright orange and have a thin brown skin. The name turmeric is derived from the Medieval Latin name terramerita, which later became terre merite in French - meaning “deserved earth” or “meritorious earth.”

The exact origin of turmeric is uncertain although turmeric has at least 6000 years of recorded history of use as a medicine and within the socio-cultural contexts of the Indian subcontinent. It is likely that turmeric came to India from the ancient regions of Cochin China (present day Vietnam) or China, either through the migration of ancient tribal people to the northeast region of India or through the movement of Buddhist monks. While the Venetian merchant and traveler Marco Polo mentioned turmeric as cultivated in China in 1280 CE, the Portuguese Renaissance physician Garcia de Orta described turmeric under the name Crocus indicus (“Indian saffron” but distinct from saffron) in 1563. The means and routes by which turmeric was imported into Europe through the spice trade remain to be further investigated.

On fol. 148r, the author-practitioner identifies terra merita as “turmeric root” (racine de cucurme).

Fol. 148r - “Beautiful color for latten”
Having cleaned it well, as is said, & scratch-brushed it well, make it boil in water & turmeric root or terra merita, and it will become very beautiful.

Terra merita, which is used as a colorant in making a yellow varnish, appears in two recipes (fols. 29v and 57r) that describe the process of making “color of gold without gold on silver” through the application of a golden colored varnish over silver leaf.

Fol. 29v – “Color of gold without gold on silver”
Color your applied silver leaf with terre emerita, and once dry, give a coat of spike lavender oil varnish and of sandarac. And it will be more beautiful than tinsel.

On fol. 29v, in order to obtain a color more beautiful than fine gold, the author-practitioner instructs us to color silver leaf with some terre emerita and, once it is dry, to apply a coat of varnish of spike lavender oil and sandarac.

Fol. 57r – “Painter”
White varnish of turpentine or of spike lavender oil and turpentine is colored with pulverized terra emerita, making it boil together. It gives a gold color on silver and more beautiful if it is burnished. It is dry in a quarter of an hour. Aloe would make brighter color still, but it takes long to dry & the other is dry in a quarter of an hour, in winter as well as summer.

On fol. 57r, in a continuation of an entry entitled “Painter” begun on fol. 56v, the author-practitioner instructs to take terra emerita—this time powdered—and boil it together with varnish, either of spike lavender oil or turpentine.

Emilie Foyer, “Color of Gold without Gold on Silver,” in Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640, ed. Making and Knowing Project, Pamela H. Smith, Naomi Rosenkranz, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Tillmann Taape, Clément Godbarge, Sophie Pitman, Jenny Boulboullé, Joel Klein, Donna Bilak, Marc Smith, and Terry Catapano (New York: Making and Knowing Project, 2020), https://edition640.makingandknowing.org/#/essays/ann_032_fa_15. DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.7916/jz70-zv73.

Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, “Turmeric and Cardamom,” in A History of Food. Translated by Anthea Bell (Chichester, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 450.

Opara Elizabeth I and Magali Chohan, “Turmeric (Curcuma longa, Curcuma domestica),” in Culinary Herbs and Spices: A Global Guide (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2021), 549-576.

P.N. Ravindran, “Turmeric – The Golden Spice of Life,” in Turmeric: The Genus Curcuma, ed. P. N. Ravindran, K. Nirmal Babu, and Kandaswamy Sivaraman (Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, 2007), 1-14.

Sahdeo Prasad and Bharat B Aggarwal, “Turmeric, the Golden Spice: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine," in Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects. 2nd edition, ed. Iris F. F. Benzie, Sissi Wachtel-Galor (Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, 2011), 263-288.

Image: Curcuma; Turmeric. Plate 396 from the German edition of Elizabeth Blackwell’s “A Curious Herbal” ("Herbarium Blackwellianum…", 1737-39) published by Christoph Jacob Trew (Nuremberg, 1773). Copper engraving with hand coloring. Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library.

Helena Seo, Columbia University