Our golden paste recipe, made from turmeric, GP is hailed as a wonder supplement that can stave off disease and heal a variety of ailments.

Photo courtesy of Andy Holmes

BBC Radio runs a series called ‘The Things we Forgot to Remember’ that details events that history overlooked, or which slipped from our collective memory.

The point is that we forget valuable facts, and with it, the context that matters. Take our diets, and those of our four- legged friends. For decades, we cut down on good fats and raised our carbohydrate intake, only to realise that wheat and pasta drain our energy and raise our vulnerability to everything from diabetes to Alzheimer’s.

Fortunately, we are slowly reversing this damaging course we have been on. We eat better, and as our knowledge and income rises, we help our doggies do the same. Take turmeric, the warm, bitter, deep-orange powder that helps to give curry its distinctive odour and taste.

Long used in Ayervedic medicine, we are only just realising – or to be precise, learning to remember – how valuable turmeric is in reducing inflammation, tackling the free radicals that damage cells and cause illness and ageing, and boosting our ability to metabalise sugars. This is wholly natural miracle drug we cannot and should not do without.

Well, it turns out the same is true for pup-pup. For anyone out there already tuned in and turned on to the benefits of brewing up a batch of ‘Golden Paste’ and adding it to the morning doggy bowl, you can either smugly nod your head and continue to read along, or get on with other things.

The Ingredients

But for everyone else, this is important. Golden Paste is dead easy to make. Various recipes exist, but few stray much from the original-and-best formula, which involves four basic ingredients.

• Take a half-cup of turmeric powder (the US-style measurement that is, not the good bone China in your tea set)
• A cup of water
• A third of a cup of raw, unrefined and, if possible, cold-pressed coconut oil
• A couple of teaspoons of cracked black pepper

The Instructions

Put the water in a pan with the turmeric powder, bring to the boil, and reduce the heat to simmer for between seven and ten minutes. Then take the pan from the heat, let it cool, and add the coconut oil and then the black pepper.
Next, spoon the thickened paste into a glass jar and, the next morning, start to add it Fido’s morning nosh.

It might seem like a faff – life is short, time is limited, and all that. But think of it this way. Golden Paste really is a marvel, and it does amazing things to your doggy’s insides – to his or her guts, brain function, and ability to stave off illness or fight viruses. It’s a powerful antioxidant, a natural and effective anti-inflammatory, an ally in the fight against cancer, and an excellent way to shield the liver against toxins. You’re doing something amazing for pup-pup, by doing something that is simple, pretty cheap, and which doesn’t take much time to prepare.

Or, you can further streamline the process by buying direct from one of the excellent vendors of Golden Paste that are cropping up all over the place.

Here are three of the best:

1. The Golden Paste Company . Located in North Yorkshire, the British firm was founded in 2016 by Janine Kell, after realising that the turmeric supplements her family took, would also help the working horses and dogs on her farm. It makes and distributes to stockists the pure paste as well as turmeric-infused fresh chicken slices.
   
2. A proudly US-based company, the Natural Dog Company makes all of its products in small batches and ships them round the world – there are over 40 stores selling its wares in the UK alone. It makes shampoos, oils and anti-wrinkle creams, all aimed at preening pups, but the focus here is its Hip & Joint Supplement, packed with wild Alaskan salmon oil, organic turmeric, and New Zealand green-lipped mussels.
   
3. Turmeric Life, founded by Dr Doug English, is an Australian company that specialises in super-healthy turmeric infused supplements, from its ‘beer bites’ to power bars and dog bites. An Australian vet and long-time turmeric fan and proponent, English was one of the first true online advocates of the benefits of this all-natural wonderful supplement. 

The Dosage

Don’t add more than a quarter of a teaspoon at first, rising to a full teaspoon, and try not to keep a batch in the fridge for longer than two weeks.