Sweet Cucumber Milk

How to Make Sweet Cucumber Milk

• SERVINGS: 1
• PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES
• COOK TIME: 0 MINUTES
• MEAL: DRINK
• STYLE: AYURVEDIC
• PREPARATION: SMOOTHIE, RAW, PUREE
• EAT IN: SUMMER

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

The Desert Oasis

On the hot, dry days of summer, a parched throat and exhausted mind requires deep rejuvenation to combat the sweltering summer sun. When work doesn't let up, even though your mind is frazzled and fried, the cooling refreshment of a chilly, sweet beverage may be just what the doctor ordered. Imagine taking a sip of lush, creamy cucumber milk and watch as your mind cascades into dreams of wading through a cooly, refreshing mountain stream. Its smooth texture and watery nature restores moisture to your mouth instantly, while its heavy groundedness satiates and rejuvenates a tired mind.

While studying Ayurveda in the vast, dry deserts of New Mexico with my old friend Cheng Liu, Sweet Cucumber Milk was the only drink that could cool our overworked minds and collect our thoughts. After a taste of this nourishing beverage, our mental batteries were recharged despite the draining, arid climate.

Grounding & Hydrating

Cream-top milk, rich in nourishing ojas, replenishes vitality and bring your racing mind back to earth. When paired with cooling cucumber and a little raw sugar, this beverage becomes a heavy and richly hydrating nectar, bringing peace and calm to your overworked mind. Cucumber's gentle downward action combined with stabilizing and satisfying milk immediately soothes nerves and cools an overactive, frenetic mind. Dry, nervous Vata will especially benefit from its oily, lubricating qualities and sweetly satisfying taste.

Food Combining

Although Ayurveda famously contraindicates drinking cold milk with with fruits like cucumber, Sweet Cucumber Milk is an exception to the golden rule. The synergistic combination will not create toxins or ama in the body, as other poor food combinations can. Be sure to use organic, cream top, whole milk to get the satisfying, full-bodied effect of the beverage. Conventional homogenized milk always creates ama, no matter how fool-proof the formula or recipe. Please take a look at our article on milk for more information on homogenization.

Perfect on Hot Summer Days

Sweet Cucumber Milk is an especially perfect tonic for a hot & fiery Pitta personality on an overheated afternoon. Since this recipe is a refrigerant, it may be too cold for Vata even on the hottest days, so proceed with caution. A highly Vata imbalanced person should drink this beverage at room temperature and may benefit from adding a pinch of cayenne pepper to warm things up. This recipe is contraindicated for Kapha dosha, who reacts poorly to rich, watery foods & cold substances like dairy and cucumber. For Kapha, this recipe may create too much mucus in your sinuses, so its best to avoid.

Hypertension and Gout

As they calm your eyes and cool down your liver, you may feel the pressure in your arteries decreasing - cucumber's diuretic nature has been used to reduce blood pressure, water retention and detoxify the blood. Those who suffer from gout will be pleased to know that cucumbers aids removal of uric acid from the blood.

Balm for your Nerves

Imagine that your nerves are like electric wires. What always surrounds a live wire? A rubber sheath. Similarly your nerves are protected by their own sheath made of cool fat which keeps your electrical system from "shorting out." Rich, nutritive milk fats cool and soothe the nervous system, increasing your buffer to handle stress and agitation. This is important any time of year, but the demanding heat of summer quite literally fries your nerves. Pitta people who run hot and never stop thinking are especially vulnerable to sizzled nerves in the summertime. Sweet Cucumber Milk is an excellent remedy for this fried feeling, restoring your capacity to deal with stress from grounded rationality.

Inflammatory Conditions

Sweet Cucumber Milk cools and calms inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Add this recipe into your diet if you suffer from ulcers of the stomach, duodenum, esophagus. Other conditions caused by too much sharp heat are hyperacidity, migraine headaches, a stressed liver, sharp appetite, and even a sharp tongue. If these conditions are ringing bells for you, Sweet Cucumber Milk may be your medicine.

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.