Maharishi Ayurveda Newsletter Archive

Close-up On The Six Tastes Of Auyrveda

Ayurveda recommends getting all six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent -- at every meal.

Here's why.

Each taste has an intimate relationship with the doshas and personal balance:

Sweet or madhura taste is a builder of those tissues that are formed from earth and water. Hence, sweet substances strengthen Kapha. An overload of sweets, on the other hand, can create a Kapha imbalance, which needs to be corrected with pungent, bitter and astringent tastes and warming foods.

Salty, sour and pungent tastes strengthen Pitta. That is, they strengthen all those functions associated with a rise in temperature: metabolic processes, for example. An excess of these tastes, however, aggravates Pitta and needs balancing out with sweet, cooling foods.

Pungent, bitter and astringent tastes increase Vata and all phenomena to do with movement, penetration and cleansing of channels. If you need to pacify Vata, therefore, you need to focus on the sweet, sour and salty tastes and eat more warm foods.

This analysis of taste and its properties was made over centuries of observation by ancient ayurvedic healers many millennia ago, but they make as much sense today.

Here's why.

Each taste is associated with certain chemicals your body needs:

• Sweet: carbohydrates, sugars, fats, amino acids
• Sour: organic acids
• Salty: salts
• Pungent: volatile oils
• Bitter: alkaloids, glycosides
• Astringent: tannin

In the rush of daily life, however, most of us tend to eat on the run, grabbing a sandwich here or a beverage there. How, then, can you make sure you get all six tastes on your plate everyday?

Maharishi Ayurveda's Gourmet Churnas, precise blends of spices and seasonings that have been prepared to balance Vata, Pitta or Kapha, can help. All you need to do is sprinkle them on your soups, salads and other cooked foods at the table. Or fry them in a small amount of Maharishi Ayurveda Ghee and then add to steamed vegetables or soups.

Or you can drink for personal balance with the Vata, Pitta and Kapha herbal teas. It's that simple!