hmm, no apparent odor... although my wife tells me my senses of taste, smell and hearing are all useless ;)

Maybe a better bet would be to just plant ACTUAL turmeric

That's what I did 😉

P.S. Here's what turmeric roots look like:

Thanks Carolb. I KNOW for sure it is not classic turmeric. I just can't figure out what it is. The leaves are large, shiny, and ovate like tumeric, although maybe edged with a purple color. I can't really take a pic as they have died back for the season, but they look like canna lily.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/canna/storing-canna-bulbs.htm

now that I see Canna bulbs, I bet that is what it is.

Is is galangal (Thai ginger)?

It does look very much like cannas to me as well.

galangal does bear a passing resemblance, but it appears to be more segmented (like turmeric) than what I have. Canna seems like a better fit.

When leaves were present, what was it in your thinking?

that was part of the problem. The leaves LOOKED like tumeric leaves - narrow, ovate, and shiny. But that describes a HOST of different plants. One distinguishing feature was the coloring was a bit on the red/purplish side, which made me think of canna.

My comments all over Houzz keep getting deleted, so I hope this one stays. I have a cucurma ginger with pink flowers that was given to me as turmeric. It has that same type root. I looked it up and it's called "wild turmeric." Look it up and see if that's what you have.