The Six Tastes Written by Joseph Immel, Asheville, NC

Help with Joyful Belly | Introduction to an Ayurvedic Diet | The Six Tastes

Evolution & Taste Buds

Taste buds evolved because they are important for maintaining our health. My friend moved with her horse from Vermont to New Mexico. Within several weeks the horse had identified all the wild edible plants in the desert. Taste buds have helped our ancestors survive in the wild and our tongue is a precise laboratory for our health. Ayurveda identifies six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.

Cravings & Creation

Taste is desire and good taste is an art. As our tastes change our food choices change. Taste is the mother of creation because food creates the body. Similarly the sexual organs transform desire and choice into creation and fertility. This is why taste and sex are linked in Ayurveda. Tastes are not only on our tongue but we chose our clothing decorate our homes according to our taste. By the law of attraction our tastes and lifestyle change who and what kind of people and energy we attract.

Click on a Taste Below

 Astringent

Elements: Air, Earth
Treat 'Astringent' with 'Salty', 'Sour', 'Sweet'.
Show me 'Astringent' ingredients.

Foods with astringent taste make the mouth feel rough or dry. Astringent taste cleanse the mouth but causes difficulty swallowing. Leafy greens, green bananas and cranberries are astringent. Astringent taste makes an apple crunchy. It makes lentils and peeled potatoes stick to each other.

Astringent & Waste Products

Astringent taste causes a tightening of tissues obstructing lymphatic flow, movement of ama (toxins or metabolic waste) and elimination of feces causing constipation. Astringent taste dries secretions and absorbs mucus (kapha).

Qualities of Astringent

Astringents are cooling and drying making them good for pitta inflammation on the skin and in the GI. Caution however if inflammation comes from dryness (vata).

Astringent Taste & Emotions

Emotionally, astringent taste helps someone cool and collect scattered thoughts. Astringent in the physical analog of fear causing the cells of the body to withdraw.

Astringent Herbs

Triphpala, amalaki, haritaki, arjuna and manjistha.

 Bitter

Elements: Ether, Air
Treat 'Bitter' with 'Sweet', 'Heavy', 'Liquid'.
Show me 'Bitter' ingredients.

Bitters and Digestion

Ayurveda suggests that a healthy gut will eliminate food six hours after eating it. The holy grail of six hour elimination exists today in indigenous societies with higher consumption of bitters but not for our society of refined flours and sugars.

The body perceives bitters as a poison and stimulates various organs for protection. In case of edible bitters, this has a beneficial, stimulating effect on digestion. Bitters stimulate peristalsis, release of bile in the liver and gall bladder, and clear the blood of pitta.

Bitters, Cravings, and Fat Metabolism

Bitters are the missing taste in the modern diet but they are the most common taste in nature. Our ancestors subsisted on diets high in bitters for millennia. Naturally, in a bitter environment, sweet taste was rare and highly desirable. Our taste buds have not yet evolved for modern convenience and availability of sweet taste.

Bitters are drying to the body, increase metabolism, and scrape fat. Bitter purifies the body and dries up all secretions. Bitter tastes reset the taste buds and destroys food cravings. They increase ether element.

Qualities of Bitter

Bitters are light, cooling, clearing and drying. They alleviate pitta and kapha and cleanse the body of toxicity but in excess aggravate vata. Bitters create a descending action that alleviates dizziness and fainting from heat conditions including fevers. Bitters are used to treat fever because they also clear the blood plasma of impurities (ama) and sweet taste (kledaka kapha). Bitter taste purifies the skin and muscle tissue. Bitter taste clears wounds.

Excess bitter aggravates Vata causing tissue wasting and hardening, loss of strength and libido, and dryness of mouth.

Bitter Herbs

Neem is pure bitter taste and a key ingredient in mahasudarshan. Gymnema sylvestre (gurmar) is used is diabetes, food cravings, and weight loss.

 Pungent

Elements: Air, Fire
Treat 'Pungent' with 'Sweet', 'Cold'.
Show me 'Pungent' ingredients.

Pungent taste is present in spicey foods and digestive enzymes. Pungent spices stimulate by irritating the lining of the digestive tract and other membranes. Made of fire element, pungent taste is sharp and concentrated, fast acting and intense, spreading quickly to all tissues. The forceful, constant contact of fire element penetrates, burns, ulcerates, cuts and cauterizes.

Types of Pungents

Black pepper and chilies are quintessential pungents. Hard liquor is pungent and burning. Sour taste, which increases secretions, is sharp but not pungent. On Joyful Belly we've lumped together pungent taste and the sharp quality because they share many similarities.

Circulation & Immunity

The body flushes pungent irritants by thinning the blood, dilating blood vessels and increasing the heart rate. Pungent taste thus improves circulation and liquefies, softens, secretes and flushes breaking up and dissolving thick or hardened masses such as mucus. Pungent taste warms the liver (which is responsible for blood thickness). Pungent taste expels excess vata, pitta, and kapha. Pungent taste stimulates courage and valor because blood flow is movement of

prana

. The immune system is in the blood. Good circulation, stimulated by ginger, black pepper or other pungents, helps improve immunity and resolve sore throats.

Pungent & Kapha

Pungent taste is the best taste for kapha. Circulation increases heat, metabolism and agni (digestive strength). It burns off all kapha tissues creating lightness. It helps the body sweat, clearing and flushing all secretions. It breaks up and dries mucus in the GI tract and in the lungs. It wakes up the sleepy kapha mind and brings focus to mental activity.

Pungent & Vata

Vata should be careful with excess use of pungent taste. A small amount of pungent taste warms vata but pungents should not be used to stimulate deficient organs. They increase Vata's already high metabolism which burns fluids (ojas) drying out tissues. Instead, nourishment is the best way to rebuild organ strength for vata. Excess pungent taste overstimulates the vata mind. Ginger, pippali, guduchi and garlic are exceptions.

Pathological Pungency

Excess sharpness and pungent taste aggravates pitta and could lead to bleeding disorders, bruises, ulcers, inflammation and rash. After encouraging secretions excess pungent taste leaves behind thirst and dryness much as the hot sun dries the desert.

Treatment of Excess Pungents

Sweet, gooey foods coat and soothe excess pungency. Cooling demulcents like licorice ghee and shatavari are also indicated. Astringents like amalaki & arjuna cool inflammation.

 Salty

Elements: Fire, Water
Treat 'Salty' with 'Astringent', 'Bitter', 'Dry'.
Show me 'Salty' ingredients.

Salt and Flavor

Salt brings out the flavor in food and brings enthusiasm for life. It stimulates secretions improving digestion. Salt is a laxative breaking up all hard masses in the digestive tract. Salt in excess obliterates all other tastes and causes thirst.

Salt and Liquefication

Salt causes water retention, increases blood pressure, and effectively combats dryness in vata. It cleanses the body by breaking up obstructions in all channels. It nourishes the nerve tissue. Salt liquefies kapha mucus in the lungs and sinuses.

Salt is used to induce vomiting in pancha karma cleansing therapies. Yogis drink a quart of water with two teaspoons of salt to completely purge the GI tract.

Overuse of Salt

Ayurveda recommends limited use of mineral salts only. Refined salts should be avoided. Excess salt increases flabbiness and wrinkling of the skin. Salt pulls water into the intercellular space through osmosis, separating ojas from the tissues. It delays healing by causing secretions in wounds. In excess salt damages fluids, decreases libido, hardens muscles, damages bones, causes premature aging and spoils the blood.

Salt, the Kidney, and Managing Fluids

The kidneys manage the ocean of water in the body. Vata people with leaky kidneys sometimes benefit from anti-diuretics, like salt, licorice and rehmania root. Anti-diuretics help rebuilding fluids and counteract the diuretic effect of Vata type ama (toxicity).

Many foods high in potassium, like potatoes, dandelions and beans, are diuretics. Potassium and salt work likes opposites in the body, both in fluid retention and on a cellular level (recall the sodium potassium pump). Salt aggravates kapha. Potassium pacifies kapha.

 Sour

Elements: Fire, Earth
Treat 'Sour' with 'Astringent', 'Cold'.
Show me 'Sour' ingredients.

When something spoils or goes rotten it becomes sour. Sour taste in Ayurveda generally refers to fermented foods as in, "The milk has gone sour," or acidic food. Sour foods include yogurt, wine, beer, miso, and pickles. Generally these sours spoil the blood. Fortunately, nature provides us with healthy sours as well including acidic fruits like citrus and subacidic fruits like peaches.

Sour and Secretions

Sour pacifies vata. Sours are secretagogues - they moisten and refresh a dry palate, encouraging secretions throughout the GI tract. Salivary secretions improve taste. Gastric secretions in the stomach improve digestion. Moistening the colon facilitates smoother, looser bowel movements.

Sour Spoils the Blood

Sour ferments are hot and spoil the blood, aggravating Pitta. Since all ferments are pre-digested by bacteria they are readily absorbed through the GI tract. Sours thus increase the blood. In Chinese medicine they "generate" the liver. Predigestion means ferments contain metabolic by-products or "bacteria poop." It is the bioavailability of nutrients, combined with irritating metabolic by-products, that heat up metabolism in all tissues (dhatu agni), stimulate the liver and cause the blood to spoil. Sour increases flabbiness of tissues and decreases strength of the sense organs.

Sour Increases Desire

Intellectuals love wine because it dilates blood vessels and focuses the mind. When our desires aren't satisfied it could lead to 'sour grapes' as in the case of Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes." Grapes are supposed to be sweet. Nobody likes eating grapes that have turned sour. In sour grapes, our heart rejects the object of our desire.

Sour Fruits

Sour fruits are more sattvic than ferments. They refresh and cleanse the palate. Think of a lemon sorbet between courses at a fine french restaurant. Generally sour fruits heat digestion but not the blood. Sour fruits come in two categories - acidic and subacidic. Acidic fruits include citrus fruits like lemons, limes, and oranges. Subacidic fruits include peaches, apricots, cherries, apples. Subacidic fruits are the most sattvic of all sours.

Sour and Chinese Medicine

In Chinese medicine, sour taste is considered cooling because sour taste includes astringent taste. Pomegranates and cranberries are special medicines in Ayurveda because they are examples of sours with strong astringency. These sours focus dispersed energy bringing the spirit back to the heart. They are also valuable digestive tonics because the 1) sourness aids digestion, 2) the cool quality soothes inflammation, and 3) astringency restores tone to distended tissues.

 Sweet

Elements: Water, Earth
Treat 'Sweet' with 'Bitter', 'Astringent', 'Light'.
Show me 'Sweet' ingredients.

Sweet taste includes nourishing foods like carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Sweet taste means good tasting not necessarily sugary. Before refined sugars, bread tasted naturally sweet. Sweet taste is life giving. It builds ojas, meaning it nourishes the sap or blood plasma of the body.

Sweet taste is rare in nature and desirable. We need sweet taste to survive. After the agricultural revolution sweet taste became abundant. It dominates the modern grocery store.

Sweet Taste & Circulation

Excess use of sweet taste, especially refined grains and refined sugars, thicken blood plasma. Thick, sticky blood plasma bogs circulation causing stagnation and high blood pressure. Poor circulation also causes swelling in the hands and feet.

Sweet Taste in the Skin

When circulation is excessively boggy, metabolic byproducts (cellular poop) get trapped in the lymphatic system causing inflammation. To see this effect more clearly, make a thumbprint on your arm. A white thumbprint surrounded by red skin could mean the lymphatic system is stagnant and inflamed. Note: This effect is usually prominent on the arms and legs.

Sweet Taste, the Lungs & the Thyroid

Healthy lungs depend on good circulation to keep them hollow. Otherwise, the lungs fill up with mucous and water. Excess sweet taste causes mucous buildup in the lungs and back of throat. Boggy circulation and a thick layer of mucous covering the lungs reduces circulation of oxygen (prana). The thyroid compensates by lowering metabolism. Many people have low thyroid activity. Symptoms of low thyroid include being overweight, cold body temperature, dry skin, and constipation.

Sweet Taste and the Kidneys

Dense, gooey, sticky blood plasma causes water retention in the kidneys and may lead to edema. While kapha types are prone to and should discourage water retention, dry vata types can use the sweet taste to help retain fluids.

Ayurvedic Classifications

Sweet taste is cooling, heavy, oily, and sticky. It brings softness and stability. Sweet taste coats the tongue and throat. It facilitates elimination of bowels. It is beneficial to children, in old age, and in debilitated persons. Sweet taste alleviates thirst, pacifies pitta and vata, and nourishes the mind. Sweet taste helps in wound healing as long as the wound is not infected.

Remedies for Excess Sweet Taste

Bitters like Kale and Dandelion leaves directly oppose sweet taste. They are drying, regulate blood sugar levels, reduce cholesterol and thin the blood. Pungent taste, including black pepper and ginger, stimulates circulation and heat.

Tastes & Emotions

Emotions are in the mind but we express them with our mouth. A smile means we are happy. Tastes are the emotions of the body and are also located in the mouth. Emotions and tastes can change quickly and unpredictably. An orange that tastes sweet yesterday may taste sour today. Every food has a 'taste personality' which takes some time to figure out. Generally eating a food daily for two weeks will help you discover the personality of the food in your body.

Tastes & Health

Every taste is associated with a physical and emotional response. Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion. Knowledge of taste bring awareness to our food cravings. A balanced ayurvedic diet includes all of the six tastes in every meal but each individual should adjust the quantity of the tastes for his or her body. For example, kapha should use less sweet taste. Vata and Pitta use more sweet taste. An organism can have an excess or deficiency of taste which can be detected by an Ayurvedic practitioner in a consultation.

Food Cravings

Tastes are not in the food but on the tongue. One of the first signs of illness is altered taste. Altered taste leads to poor food choices and cravings. When taste buds are altered we recommend cleansing programs to remove excess doshas from the body.

Cravings are our body's best attempt to heal itself. For example excess kapha causes circulation to stagnate and low energy. Then kapha craves sweets for a quick 'pick-me-up'. Sweet cravings might have been appropriate for our ancestors in the wilderness but there were no ice-cream cones in the forest! In modern society however indulging in ice cream only causes more kapha stagnation and cravings.

Sacred Cravings

All cravings come from unhealthy or deficient organs. By understanding taste and the nature of the deficiency we can understand the root of our cravings. When health and desire are one our cravings become sacred.

Sweet

Sour

Salty

Pungent

Astringent

Bitter

 

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Home | Ayurvedic Diet | Doshas | Gunas | Tastes | Our Favorite Recipes | Clinical Services | Ayurvedic Products
About Us | My Account | Login/Register | Logout | Help | Site Assistance | Diet Help | Request Help

© 2008 Joyful Belly, All rights reserved.

joseph@joyfulbelly.com

828-348-4880 Asheville, North Carolina