
Acai means fruit that cries. Acai is a sweet & juicy fruit with a satisfying purple pulp. It provides rich nutrition, high antioxidant value, and fiber.
Acorn Squash is a nourishing, grounding vegetable whose sweetness can be the centerpiece of a hearty meal. As sweet taste is almost always cold, be sure to warm your acorn squash with mild spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, or more savory options like...
Aloe includes more than 250 species of flowering succulents and is native to Africa, Madagascar and Jordan. It is closely related to cactus, yucca and onion. For thousands of years and across many cultures, aloe has been used to heal a variety of...
Amaranth represented up to 80% of the caloric intake of the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest. Amaranth tastes somewhat like corn, but is somewhat less sweet. Others have described the taste as nutty, like bacon or wood, or slightly bitter. It is...
Often used for weight loss, vinegar strongly increases the flow of bile. Bile is a fatty, oily substance made by the liver, and stored in the gall bladder. It helps you digest fats. Since bile is also a fatty oily substance, draining bile from the...
"A tale that begins with a beet will end with the devil", wrote Tom Robbins in Jitterbug Perfume. For good reason too - cooking with red beets leaves the hands looking blood-stained. A chef who slaughters beets cannot hide - only run from the scene of...
Pop a few blueberries in your mouth and you'll notice reduced agitation, a relaxing sensation in the eyes, and cool feeling in your skin. These visceral signs are your personal cue indicating blueberries' beneficial effect on your liver, and their...
Bitter detoxicant, Cold vasodilator, depurative, alterative, astringent diuretic. Stimulates kidneys to eliminate uric acid. like dandelion root but not a potassium diuretic
Winter squashes, including butternut, are eaten in the autumn after they have absorbed the sun's energy over the summer. This stored energy gives squashes a warm ojas building heartiness that can comfort you through colder weather. Where most tonic...
Ancestors of the wild carrot came from Iran and Afghanistan, the center of genetic diversity for carrot. Carrots were bred from a species of wild carrot, called Queen Anne's Lace. Originally they were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds. Since...
Cooling, lymphatic decongestant, alterative, anti-inflammatory diuretic, astringent, bitter. Mild demulcent. like Cleavers but stronger decongestant.
Maybe it's the name, or the pretty blue flowers that line the highway, but every time I think of chicory, I smile with the thought of a party in New Orleans.
Cilantro is the leaf of the coriander seed. Both the leaves and the seeds have citrus overtones. Cilantro, as a cooling herb, pairs well with hot spicy dishes.
Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant. Its pleasantly fragrant aroma lifts the spirits and has a rustic feel.
Cranberries grow in acidic bogs. Early settlers in North American thought cranberry flowers looked like a crane, and named them 'craneberry'. They are a major commercial crop in North America.
When most people think of dandelion, they think of pulling this pesky weed out of their manicured lawn. It's the poster child for weeds. This is especially ironic because colonists brought the dandelion to the Americas as an important medicinal plant....
Dates have been a staple food and cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years. Their cultivation has been documented in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and as far back as 6000BC in Arabia.
Regarded as both a force for good and evil, folklore and superstition abound when it comes to this little but poignant member of the onion family. A garland of garlic kept evil spirits and vampires away in the west. In an eastern Islamic myth, garlic...
Grapes are considered a superior fruit to all others in Ayurvedic. They are an important tonic (rasayana) for late summer. Grapes have been a sign of abundance since Greek times. The Greek God or agriculture, Dionysus, is often portrayed with a crown...
Jaggery is raw, concentrated unrefined juice of sugar cane without separating the molasses from the crystal. It contains sucrose, invert sugars, moisture and other trace minerals and fibers of the sugar cane plant. In some cases jaggery is made from...
Start with lacinto kale if regular Kale is too bitter but make sure you eventually switch over to the real stuff.
The origin of lemons are a mystery. Do they come from southern india? burma? or china? Speculation abounds. Genetic study reveals lemons are a hybrid of a sour orange and a citron.
Limes are strongly sour, thus encouraging secretions in the digestive tract and salivary glands. These secretions improve taste, digestion, and regular elimination (functioning as a mild laxative) Limes and Cleansing Lime's sour...
Parsley was revered for its medicinal potency long before it was eaten as a food. Native to the central Mediterranean region, the herb was sacred to the ancient Greeks. They used it to adorn victorious athletes and decorate the tombs of the dead.
Glossy orange-red American Persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) grow wild from the east coast through to the Midwest. Akin to dates, Persimmons are very sweet & gooey. They are too sweet to ferment or rot, and thus perfect for drying. American persimmons...
Pomegranate comes from the latin words for apple (pomum) and seed (granatum), altogether meaning 'seeded-apple'. The seeds of the pomegranate are embedded in a white membrane that is also used for its medicinal qualities in Ayurveda. The french word...
Pomegranate molasses is an effective sour for all three doshas with less astringency than pomegranate juice.
High fiber (pectin) and phenolic compounds have made prunes famous as laxative. While prunes are a great choice of laxative for Kapha's with lazy colon constipation, Vata should take caution due to the diuretic nature of prunes. High potassium makes...
Soft, sweet, and buttery, pumpkin pie has been my favorite Thanksgiving treat since childhood. I've baked over 8 pumpkin pies this season alone.
Radicchio is a simple, classic bitter that stimulates the liver and digestive organs, cleansing and revitalizing them.
Vinegar heats up digestion, but aids fat metabolism. Balsamic vinegar is made with red wine, which is hotter than other vinegars.
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Founder of Joyful Belly Ayurveda, John Immel, answers the question ‘What is Ayurveda?’