Turmeric is a spice that just about everyone in India uses. If someone doesn't have it in their household, it is very rare. It is a very cheap spice and is very popular to cook with it.
Tumeric is a powder ground from kadukkai powder uses in tamil the root of a large-leafed Asian plant (Curcuma longa L). Its taste is pungent, bitter, not sweet like the ginger spice which is in the same "family."
Tumeric grows wild in the Himalayas and is grown across South Asia.
A lot of people don't think they know anything about this spice but curcumin, which is found in tumeric, is found in mustard. The yellow color in mustard comes from curcumin.