Pungent Foods Ayurveda
Some examples of pungent flavors are common spices such as cayenne pepper black pepper chilis mustard seed dry and fresh ginger and asafetida.
Pungent foods ayurveda. 1 similarly cloves coriander cumin and fennel though pungent tasting herb do not tend to aggravate pitta when used in moderation. But how often do you think of bitter pungent and astringent foods. Ayurveda recommends that those with a kapha dominance in their body eat well seasoned and spiced food including pungent spices and herbs such as ginger and chilli. Pippali long pepper is a famous herb in ayurveda for lung and heart conditions and is a close relative of black pepper.
The word pepper gradually came to include the unrelated new. Though predominantly pungent in taste ginger and cooked garlic do not tend to aggravate vata. Common spicy foods are chili peppers hot sauces radishes including horseradish and wasabi garlic all onions including ramps and chives all mustard greens and kohlrabi. Bitter increases vata decreases pitta and kapha.
Pungent taste is hot and spicy as found in a chili pepper while astringent taste is dry and light as found in popcorn. While the first four tastes are probably recognizable the last two may not seem familiar. Some examples of pungent foods. Herbal resins like frankincense and myrrh have a distinct pungent taste as well.
Hot peppers ginger onions garlic mustard and hot spices. It is easy to thing of examples of sweet tastes apple pie salty tastes potato chips and sour tastes lemons. The word pepper is dervied from the south asian word pippali. In fact they support vata because they improve digestion and help to eliminate intestinal gas.
Vata handles pungent tastes best when they are combined with sour sweet or salty foods. Ayurveda identifies 6 tastes by which all foods can be categorized. Experience enthusiasm juice plasma as in rasa dhatu and essence. Ayurveda the ancient medical system of india recognizes 6 tastes sweet sour salty bitter pungent and astringent.
Rasa the sanskrit word for taste has a number of potent meanings among them. Pungent foods will aggravate pitta quickly and balance kapha. These diverse meanings only hint at the significance of taste within the ayurvedic tradition. Pungent bitter astringent foods barley corn rye light dry fruits like apples pears and pomegranates raw vegetables and those with a lot of seeds black beans chickpeas and kidney beans white sugar most liquors and coffee.
Acrid is a subtype of pungent used for foods that aren t spicy but have a burning sensation like tobacco. Sweet sour salty bitter pungent and astringent.