Greens - Foods & Herbs List

AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE ON GREENS

Click here for examples of greens.

Greens are the most common taste in nature. Sweet taste was rare before farms and grocery stores. What is common easily becomes forgotten, and what is rare increases in value. Bitter greens are perhaps the exception to this rule.

Greens are naturally cleansing. Greens are generally bitter and astringent. They are stimulating and energizing. They are light, cold, dry, rough, mobile, and clear. Spring is the best time of year to eat greens. In the fall, greens could aggravate Vata body types, and should be cooked well. In autumn, mix greens with oils and sweet taste, so that they are nourishing.

Raw Salads & Undercooked Greens

A few hundred years ago, the concept of a green salad was unknown. Since the Ice Age and discovery of fire, greens were consumed cooked not raw for proper assimilation by the body. On the other hand, agriculture breeding has removed much of the bitterness from farm selected greens. These days, romaine lettuce is more like a dessert than a bitter. We should approach romaine lettuce the way rabbits do, as delectable, desirable, and more like a dessert. If romaine lettuce tastes bitter to your buds, it's a sign that our taste has been sugar coated by modern agriculture.

While Pitta has the digestive strength for raw foods, greens should otherwise be cooked well until they are soft. Hard to chew is hard to digest! For more on the raw versus cooked debate, click here.

INGREDIENTS THAT ARE GREENS

Browse Greens Recipes

Greens Recipes Listed By Strength

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• Seaweed and Baby Kale Tabouli
• Kale Lemonade with Ginger & Apple
• Refreshing Cabbage, Cilantro & Aloe Juice
• Goat Cheese with Walnuts & Mint Salad
• Collard Greens with Potato, Lemon & Turmeric
• Dandelion Greens with Lemon & Mint
• Carrot Ginger Soup with Parsnips & Collard Greens
• Dandelion Leaves with Lemon, Garlic & Cinnamon
• Kale with Lemon & Paprika
• Kale with Coconut & Fennel
• Potatoes with Spinach Soup
• Beets & Greens with Coconut
• Sweet Potato with Kale & Ginger
• Kale with Parsley, Cumin & Lemon
• Chickweed Pesto
• Watermelon & Grated Raw Beet Salad
• Parsley & Cilantro Chimichurri Pesto
• Coconut & Sweet Potato Soup with Nettles
• Grilled Romaine with 6 Minute Egg
• Beet Greens with Cumin & Garlic
• Collard Greens with Chestnuts
• Swiss Chard & Onion Taco
• Sweet Potato Wrapped in Kale Drizzled with Tahini
• Nettle & Fennel Tea
• Kale Chips
• Curried Chick Pea with Collard Greens
• Dandelion Mustard with Garlic & Thyme - Salad Dressing
• Kale & Carrot Soup with Ginger, Fennel & Lime
• Sweet Potatoes with Beet Greens & Goat Cheese
• Mushroom Swiss Chard Frittata with Rosemary