Turmeric, also known as curcuma, is a tropical mountain plant. The Latin name is curcuma longa. It belongs to the ginger family, but does not taste as hot as ginger, but rather mildly spicy and slightly bitter. It grows in Southeast Asia and India and grows to about one meter high. There, it has been revered as a sacred plant for more than 5000 years. Like ginger, curcuma forms tuber-like parts called rhizomes.