How to Make Apple Cider with Spices

SERVINGS: 4

PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 15 MINUTES

MEAL: DRINK

STYLE: WESTERN

PREPARATION: BOILED

EAT IN: AUTUMN-WINTER

FOR OCCASION: THANKSGIVING, MOVIE-NIGHT, GAME-NIGHT, KID-FRIENDLY

How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

Spicy, sweet Apple Cider with Spices brings back nostalgic memories of easier times past. A few sips from a heavy mug invite tastes of spicy cinnamon, warm nutmeg, and exotic clove bring depth and complexity to sweetly sour apple juice. Traditionally sipped at fall and winter celebrations, mulling spices of home-brewed cider chase away the sharpest evening chill.

Perfectly matched to the beauty of colorful autumn leaves and the coat of the red fox that appears between trees in quiet forests, hot apple cider's inherent warmth chases away chilling temperatures. Spicy cinnamon, clove and nutmeg ignite your internal fire, even though the long arms of the sun no longer touch your face. Warm your hands around a full mug of Apple Cider with Spices and feel the warmth of your heart once again extend out to your fingers, toes, friends and foes.

Warm Your Fingers and Toes

With the cool winds of autumn beginning to blow through many regions, you may find your body feeling cold and congested, longing for warmth and comfort. Battling the cold may seem like a necessary evil as fall deepens into winter. Yet, a simple remedy for cold hands and feet may be as close as your everyday spice rack. Long relied upon for its stimulating effect on the circulation, cinnamon warms your blood and your body into coziness with its sweet taste and powerful punch. The warmth it brings to cold hands and feet has also been used for conditions like Raynauld's Syndrome.

The body conserves on heat during cold winter months by bringing more blood into the core and allowing the temperature in your arms and legs to drop. Cloves pushes heat out to the exterior warming the skin. They are a strong diaphoretic and vasodilator bringing blood and heat back to the exterior of the body for cleansing and 'sweating' out a fever. Sweating just a little makes you feel healthy and revitalized in when it's cold. Cinnamon also helps you sweat and feel warm through and through. It's no mystery why spiced cider has been a warming go-to recipe in colder parts of the world for generations on end.

Immunity Spice Blend

Cider's blend of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg strengthens your immunity. It's pungent spiciness warms up the lungs and liquefies mucus congestion. You may have noticed that when you make tea with cinnamon, a thick, gooey substance settles to the bottom of your cup. This gooey property is called demulcent among herbalists and helps you expecorate any thick, kapha like mucus adhered to the bronchial tubes. Clove is an herb that causes you to break a light sweat, thereby eliminating bugs that may be circulating in your blood.

Balance Your Blood

Spiced Cider is a safer choice for those battling high blood sugar. Cinnamon is a popular garnish atop many desserts- while many of us choose cinnamon in sweets for its unique taste, this choice also reflects the body's innate wisdom. Cinnamon regulates blood sugar and its stimulating pungency makes it the perfect spice to balance sweet apple juice.

The sour taste of apples cleans the liver, somatically experienced as a softening of the eyes. Malic acid, the constituent responsible for sour taste, has a particular affinity for liver cleansing and support. You will feel calm, balanced, warm, and relaxed after sipping a cup of this nourishing-yet-cleansing brew.

Keep Your Digestion Strong

Have you noticed it's harder to relax when the weather is cold? The same thing happens in your digestive tract, which is lined with smooth muscle. When the weather is cold, your muscles contract. Even the smooth muscles of your digestive tract become tight, and digestion and elimination become difficult. Nutmeg is aromatic, astringent, and a sedative. It's aromatic quality makes it ideal for improving digestion, while astringent quality helps bind the stool. Cloves soften the stools, which is helpful in cold weather when your muscles to contract, causing constipation. They are a carminative increasing hydrochloric acid in the stomach and encouraging peristalsis (peristalsis is the wave of smooth muscle in the colon that creates a bowel movement). It's sedative qualities make nutmeg ideal in tonics (rasayanas), where nervines are necessary to encourage absorption of heavy foods.

Cloves are hot and pungent- their inherent warmth grounds Vata and keeps their delicate digestion strong. They are a carminitive increasing hydrochloric acid in the stomach and persistalsis. Sour cooked apples promote secretions in the digestion tract. Cinnamon rounds out this cider recipe by warming your digestive fire.

Calm Comfort of Tradition

Traditional mulling spices are the very essence of comfort on blustery nights. Nutmeg is aromatic, astringent, and a sedative and nutmeg grounds agitated Vata. It's sedative qualities make nutmeg bring about a calm state of mind. Cinnamon "warms the heart," making this the perfect formula for lonely winter nights.

AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT

Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances. With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you. Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature. By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health. See How it Works.

See a complete list of all biocharacteristics.

INCREASES Increases These Biocharacteristics (Gunas) Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics (gunas). Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance. By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick. Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold). You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic. Learn More	HOT ABOUT HOT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Hot is identified by increased body temperature, metabolism, or inflammation. LEARN MORE ABOUT HOT EASY ABOUT EASY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Easy refers to anything easy to digest, or digests quickly. LEARN MORE ABOUT EASY CLEAR ABOUT CLEAR BIOCHARACTERISTIC Clear refers to anything that cleanses or flushes out wastes, or that digests ama. LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAR DRY ABOUT DRY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Dry is identified by lack of moisture, lack of fat, or anything that causes diuresis. LEARN MORE ABOUT DRY GOOEY ABOUT GOOEY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Gooey is identified by anything gelatinous (such as oatmeal), or by mucus congestion. LEARN MORE ABOUT GOOEY LIGHT ABOUT LIGHT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Lightness is identified by reduced weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT LIGHT
TASTES The 6 Tastes Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food. Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body. Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food. Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods. Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion. Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste. One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below? Learn More	ASTRINGENT ABOUT ASTRINGENT BIOCHARACTERISTIC Astringency is characterized by constriction, drawing together, or drying. LEARN MORE ABOUT ASTRINGENT
DOSHAS The Three Doshas / Body Types According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine, people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person. Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness. Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency. Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses. The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history. The 3 functional body types (doshas), are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha). Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry. Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed. Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded. Learn More	PACIFIES AGGRAVATES
HAS THE FOLLOWING	Subtaste: Aromatic AROMATIC Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues. SEE ALL 'AROMATIC' FOODS / HERBS Moves Energy: Outward OUTWARD Outward-moving substances stimulate circulation, push heat towards the skin, or are stimulating. SEE ALL 'OUTWARD' FOODS / HERBS Tissue (dhatu): Blood Plasma Lymph BLOOD-PLASMA-LYMPH Plasma (Rasa Dhatu) includes plasma, white blood cells, and lymph. SEE ALL 'BLOOD-PLASMA-LYMPH' FOODS / HERBS
HERBAL ACTIONS (see all)	Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Apple Cider with Spices Experiences are Personal Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary. The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition. Digestion: Warms Abdomen WARMS-ABDOMEN Warms the muscles and organs of the abdomen, stimulating digestion and metabolism. SEE ALL 'WARMS-ABDOMEN' FOODS / HERBS , Carminative CARMINATIVE Stimulates the release of gas. Helpful for bloating or cramping abdominal pain. Propels food downward. Carminatives typically expel gas by relaxing the muscles of the intestines. SEE ALL 'CARMINATIVE' FOODS / HERBS , Digestive DIGESTIVE Herbs that encourage healthy digestion. SEE ALL 'DIGESTIVE' FOODS / HERBS , Appetizer APPETIZER Herbs that cleanse the palate & stimulate hunger or desire to eat. SEE ALL 'APPETIZER' FOODS / HERBS Bowel Health: General Laxative GENERAL-LAXATIVE Promotes a bowel movement. General laxative is an umbrella term that refers to several different types of laxatives... SEE ALL 'GENERAL-LAXATIVE' FOODS / HERBS , Stool Softener STOOL-SOFTENER An herb that softens stool that is hard and difficult to pass. They are the safest and most gentle type of laxative. Some foods are even stool softeners, such as warm milk with ghee. SEE ALL 'STOOL-SOFTENER' FOODS / HERBS Cleanse & Detox: Burns Toxins BURNS-TOXINS An herb that detoxifies by helping your body metabolize toxins, as opposed to eliminating them. SEE ALL 'BURNS-TOXINS' FOODS / HERBS Mind, Stress & Sleep: Nervine NERVINE Balances the nervous system. They can help with stress, memory, early alzheimer's, and even chronic pain. Often they are aromatic in nature. SEE ALL 'NERVINE' FOODS / HERBS , Sedative SEDATIVE Sedative herbs create a sense of calm in the mind and body by specifically calming or quieting the nervous system. Excellent for anxiety, stress and chronic pain. SEE ALL 'SEDATIVE' FOODS / HERBS Energy Vitality: Stimulates Energy STIMULATES-ENERGY This category groups thyroid and adrenal stimulating herbs. SEE ALL 'STIMULATES-ENERGY' FOODS / HERBS Skin Care & Beauty: Diaphoretic DIAPHORETIC An herb that induces sweating, often by dilating blood vessels close to the skin. SEE ALL 'DIAPHORETIC' FOODS / HERBS Respiratory-Health: Soothes Throat SOOTHES-THROAT Soothes throat discomfort, including from a sore or ticklish throat. SEE ALL 'SOOTHES-THROAT' FOODS / HERBS , Warms Chest WARMS-CHEST Warms the chest and lungs, clearing mucus and allowing for clear breathing. Often these herbs are hot, aromatic, and pungent. SEE ALL 'WARMS-CHEST' FOODS / HERBS , Expectorant EXPECTORANT Expectorants help you eliminate mucus from the lungs. These herbs often work by increasing the quantity of mucus, or thinning the mucus. Expectorants are indicated when phlegm congests the lower respiratory tract. SEE ALL 'EXPECTORANT' FOODS / HERBS Heart & Circulation: Cardiac Stimulant CARDIAC-STIMULANT Herbs that increase the heart rate. Useful in cardiovascular health, blood stagnation, and subjective feeling of heaviness in the chest area. SEE ALL 'CARDIAC-STIMULANT' FOODS / HERBS , Styptic STYPTIC A herb that contracts tissue or blood vessels. Generally styptics are astringent. They are often used topically as a hemostatic to stop bleeding, or to reduce secretions. SEE ALL 'STYPTIC' FOODS / HERBS , Vasodilator VASODILATOR A vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area. SEE ALL 'VASODILATOR' FOODS / HERBS Liver & Gallbladder: Cholagogue CHOLAGOGUE Cholagogues stimulate the production & release of bile from the liver & gallbladder. This refreshes and cleanses these organs, as well as increases bile in the small intestines. SEE ALL 'CHOLAGOGUE' FOODS / HERBS , Livotonic LIVOTONIC An herb that strengthens the liver. It is helpful for people with a history of substance abuse, chronic liver issues from hepatitis and hemolytic anemias. Generally, liver tonics are oily, cool, sweet, mildly sour, or contain beta-carotene. SEE ALL 'LIVOTONIC' FOODS / HERBS Reproductive Health: Emmenagogue EMMENAGOGUE Herbs which stimulate menstruation. Emmenagogues are used for scanty menstruation, to relieve menstrual pain, and improve blood flow in the pelvic area and uterus. SEE ALL 'EMMENAGOGUE' FOODS / HERBS , Galactagogue GALACTAGOGUE Increases production of breast milk, often by raising prolactin and diaphoresis. SEE ALL 'GALACTAGOGUE' FOODS / HERBS Strength, Muscle Health: Relieves Tension RELIEVES-TENSION An herb that releases tightness, constriction, and rigidity in a muscle. SEE ALL 'RELIEVES-TENSION' FOODS / HERBS , Antispasmodic ANTISPASMODIC Herbs that reduce or inhibit muscle spasms or cramping, such as in asthma, menstruation, hear palpitations, migraine, or IBS. SEE ALL 'ANTISPASMODIC' FOODS / HERBS Constituents: Folate

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Joyful Belly is a recognized school of biocharacteristics medicine.