Lakadong Turmeric — Single-Origin from the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya

The story of Lakadong turmeric

LAKADONG · the Jaintia Hills area this turmeric is named after

Also searched as: Lakadong haldi · Meghalaya turmeric · Jaintia Hills turmeric · golden turmeric

The name is a place. Lakadong is an area in the West Jaintia Hills, and the turmeric carries the name of where it belongs — because with this turmeric, the origin is the whole point. For a long time it was a hill crop barely known outside Meghalaya. It is only in recent years that it has travelled out under its own name and become a turmeric people go looking for, rather than just whatever haldi sits on the shelf.

You can tell it apart before you even cook with it. The colour is a deep, burnt amber-orange, closer to rust than the pale yellow of supermarket haldi. The smell is warm earth and fresh-cracked black pepper, with a woody, resinous sharpness that stays on your fingers. On the tongue it is earthy and peppery, with a clean bitter-warm edge. And in the pot, a spoon smaller than you are used to turns a whole pan of dal a glowing gold.

"A named source, not a slogan. We buy our Lakadong through Padma Shri Trinity Saioo's organisation — and we've sat in her fields and recorded the growers ourselves." 

— Dr. (CS) Puja Shree Agarwal, Founder, Maatru Rasah

Why its curcumin runs higher

Three things stack up in the Jaintia Hills. The variety itself is a high-curcumin landrace — that is its claim to fame. The place suits it: iron-rich hill soil, high rainfall, and the altitude and climate of the Jaintia Hills. And the method is slow: hand-harvested at maturity, sun-cured rather than kiln-rushed, and stone-ground at low temperature so the colour and aroma survive the grind.

These conditions are hard to replicate on a commercial plain-grown farm, which is the honest reason Lakadong stays uncommon and is priced as it is.

This batch: 10.68% curcumin

We print a real, batch-tested number rather than a fixed marketing figure. This batch, from the Winter 2025–26 harvest, tests at 10.68% curcumin. Across harvests the range is 7–12%, because curcumin shifts with soil, season and curing — a single number printed on every pack, all year, is a flag, not a flex.

Curcumin is measured in a laboratory, not by eye; a bright powder can still be low in curcumin, and colour can be faked. The reliable method is analytical, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For what the percentage means and how it is measured, read our companion guide to curcumin percentage in turmeric.

How we source it

We buy our Lakadong through the farmer organisation led by Padma Shri Trinity Saioo, drawing on around 900 farmer households around Mulieh village in the West Jaintia Hills. We have stood in the field, eaten lunch with the farmers, and recorded their answers on a fieldwork audio recorder.

We are honest about what this is. The organisation sells to other buyers too; what is ours is the depth of the relationship and the traceability of each batch. Once the turmeric reaches us, we stone-grind it in small batches and pack each pouch to order, by hand, in our own kitchen — no contract manufacturing, no outsourcing. The full sourcing story is on our About Us page.

GI-tagged authenticity

Lakadong turmeric carries a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, the same kind of protection that sits behind Darjeeling tea and Kanchipuram silk. The GI ties the name to its region of Meghalaya and is your guard against the oldest trick in the spice trade: ordinary turmeric relabelled and sold as "Lakadong." Colour is easy to fake; a named variety, a named village and a batch test are not. With ours, all three are on the page.

How to spot real Lakadong

Here is the honest part most sellers skip: you cannot tell Lakadong from ordinary turmeric just by looking, and no kitchen test proves it either. A deep colour only tells you it is turmeric, and colour can be deepened artificially. The water-glass test — a spoon of powder stirred into warm water — checks for added dye, not for the variety. So a bright pouch on a marketplace is not evidence of Lakadong.

What actually proves it is a source you can follow and a number you can check:

• A named variety. Lakadong is a landrace of Curcuma longa, not a grade or a brand. The words "premium" or "organic" on a label are not the same as Lakadong.
• A named place and source. A real seller can tell you the district and the farmers. Ours is Mulieh village, West Jaintia Hills, through Padma Shri Trinity Saioo's organisation.
• A GI tag. Lakadong carries a Geographical Indication, the same protection that sits behind Darjeeling tea — it ties the name to its region.
• A batch curcumin figure. A real laboratory number, measured by HPLC, for the batch in your hand, rather than one flattering percentage printed on every pack all year. This batch: 10.68%.

If a seller can show the variety, the village, the GI tag and a batch test, you are almost certainly holding the real thing. If all you get is a bright photo and the word "Lakadong," you are holding a label. How curcumin is measured →

How to cook with it

Lakadong is more concentrated in colour and flavour than ordinary haldi, so use less — start with about a third to a half of what a recipe asks for, then adjust to taste.

• Add it early, in fat. Stir it into hot ghee or oil at the start of a dish, in the tadka, rather than dusting it on at the end. It blooms into a deeper, more even gold that way.
• Everyday cooking. Dal, sabzi, khichdi, pulao, biryani, and marinades for paneer or fish — a small spoon carries a lot of colour.
• Haldi doodh (golden milk). Warm milk, a small pinch of Lakadong, a little jaggery, and a turn of black pepper for flavour. The classic turmeric milk.
• Golden infusion. Simmer a pinch with fresh ginger and a squeeze of lemon for a warm, golden cup.

Because it is so concentrated, a 50 g pouch goes a long way in a home kitchen.

How to store it

We pack your turmeric to order in a food-grade pouch. Because it is a single ingredient — only turmeric, with no preservative, no added colour and no anti-caking agent — a little care keeps it fresh and weevil-free with no chemicals at all. We recommend pouring it into an airtight glass jar once it reaches you. A glass jar option is also available on this page if you would like it sent that way.

• Glass jar, dark cupboard. Glass does not react with turmeric's oils, and keeping the jar out of the light protects both the colour and the curcumin.
• Or refrigerate. In a humid kitchen, the fail-safe is the fridge: kept airtight in the cold, the powder stays dry and weevils (ghun) cannot hatch.
• Always a dry spoon. A single drop of moisture can spoil the whole jar.
• Keep it away from steam. Don't open it over a boiling pot.
• A natural guard. A whole dried bay leaf (tejpatta) or one or two cloves (laung) on top of the powder keeps insects away without changing the flavour.

Stored this way, Lakadong holds its colour and aroma for about 24 months unopened and is best within 12 months of opening. Fresh, it is deep golden-orange with a strong, peppery smell; when either fades, the jar is past its best.

Why it costs what it costs

Real Lakadong is not a cheap turmeric, and we would rather explain the price than disguise it. Yields are smaller on hand-worked hill plots than on mechanised plains farms. The organisation is paid fairly. The curing is slow, the grinding is small-batch, and every pouch is packed to order rather than mass-bagged. Because it is single-origin and batch-tested, each step is traceable instead of anonymous. We are expensive because we are honest about how the food is made.