Spices are revered in the ayurvedic tradition because of the therapeutic value they bring to a meal. There are almost no dishes in ayurvedic cooking that are not embellished with the aroma, flavor and healing wisdom of spices.Combining spices to offer the benefits of synergy and balance is an integral part of ayurvedic cooking. Our six-taste spice mixes offer a helpful starting point for combining spices if you are new to ayurvedic cooking. Spices are a very convenient, quick way of incorporating the six ayurvedic tastes--sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent--at every meal.
Use spice-power
In addition to their delicious taste, spices can greatly increase the intelligence of your meals. They also help with digestion and assimilation. To bring the most out of them, cook them with your food or sauté them in ghee and add them to your meals. For best assimilation of the benefits of therapeutic spices, eat them cooked, instead of sprinkling raw spices over foods. Ayurvedic spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, saffron, cinnamon and cardamom offer rich and varied aroma and flavor besides helping to balance different doshas and enhancing the metabolism. They can transform simple dishes into feasts for all your senses, providing fulfillment and contentment from meals.
A new collection of Ayurvedic spice mixes to enhance mind and body, to support that total balance. Choose from any of the blends, each has it's own individual purpose and health benefit. Enjoy!
For daily use sauté one teaspoon of ghee. Heat until you smell the aroma. Immediately remove the pan from the heat to avoid burning the spices. Drizzle the spicy ghee on to cooked rice or other dishes before serving. Or add steamed vegetables to the spice mixture while still in the pan and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. This spice mixture should be used regularly to flavor one dish for the main meal of the day to boost immunity and enhance digestion.
In ayurveda, foods are classified into six tastes (rasas)--sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Many foods have more than one taste--Amla, the Indian Gooseberry, for example, contains five of these six tastes: all except salty, and turmeric contains three--bitter, pungent and astringent. Ayurvedic healers recommend that you include all of these six tastes at each main meal you eat. Each taste has a balancing ability, and including some of each provides complete nutrition, minimizes cravings and balances the appetite and digestion. The general North American diet tends to have too much of the sweet, sour and salty tastes, and not enough of the bitter, pungent and astringent tastes.
