Blood Building Syrup

Blood Building Syrup

All systems of traditional medicine make extensive use of the medicinal properties of both fresh and dried fruit, cooked with water to make a compote, or prepared as medicinal jams and syrups. Ayurveda maintains a large class of medicinal jams called lehyas, which means ‘to lick’, referring to the method of administration. While they aren’t exactly like deserts, compotes, jams and syrups are a very pleasant to get the medicine down, and are particularly suited to both vata and pitta conditions. The following ‘Blood Building Syrup’ is an excellent preparation to help build up the blood in anemia, infertility, exhaustion, and immunodeficiency, or when recovering from chronic disease, medical treatments (e.g. chemotherapy) or surgery. Although it is prepared as a syrup in this recipe, to prepare as a compote simply stew the fruit with the herbs and serve it without processing it further.

Ingredients
½ cup chopped dried figs
½ cup dried goji berries
½ cup dried prunes
½ cup Chinese red dates
1 oz shatavari root (tien men dong or asparagus root)
1 oz cured rehmannia (shu di huang)
1 oz astragalus root (huang qi)
1 oz American ginseng (xi yang shen)
2 quarts (4 liters) water
2-3 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp pippali powder
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp clove powder
¼ tsp pink salt
1 cup organic molasses (approximately)

Directions
Add the dried fruit and herbs (shatavari, rehmannia, astragalus, American ginseng) into a pot along with 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil and simmer until it is reduced to a syrup-like consistency and the fruit and herbs are squishy (about 1 hour). Allow the fruit-herb decoction to cool and then mix in a blender until smooth. Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer into a measuring cup, taking note of exactly how much liquid you are left with. In a separate pan, melt the ghee on medium heat and add the pippali, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and pink salt. Cook for a minute and then add the fruit-herb decoction to this, along with an equal part molasses. Cook on low heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour into a clean, dry glass bottle, seal and store in a cool location. Dose is 1-2 tbsp twice daily, with warm water.

***
Since this post was published a few years back, I have received a number of inquiries where these herbs can be obtained. First off, it’s not absolutely necessary you use exactly the same ingredients. All of the recipes in Food As Medicine are designed as a starting point, and are easily modified based on your needs. That said, this formula in particular has been very successful at resolving anemia, and if possible, measures should be taken to replicate it as closely as possible.

Locating the Chinese herbs is easy if your region or city has a local Chinatown. Here in Vancouver, we have lots of Chinese influence, and it’s easy to find Chinese herbs. My favorite location to send folks here is Kiu Shun Trading Company, down on Keefer Street in Vancouver. When I have international orders, however, for which shipping bulk herbs across the border isn’t so easy, I have a number of online recommendations:

For TCM herbs
Five Flavor Herbs
Kalyx
Springwind Dispensary

For Western herbs
Mountain Rose Herbs
Starwest Botanicals

For Ayurvedic herbs
Organic India
Banyan Botanicals
Vadik Herbs

Feel free to post your favorite resources!

Preventing constipation naturally

Preventing constipation naturally

Constipation is a frequent complaint that affects upwards of 100 million Americans on a regular basis, and in traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, is considered to be a precursor to any number of more serious health issues. By some medical definitions constipation is only diagnosed if the patient hasn’t had a movement for more than one week. This designation is based purely on statistical averages, i.e. what is “normal” in society. Some people have frequent BMs, whereas others only poop 1-2 times a month. But statistical averages say nothing about the condition itself, nor about the importance that it plays in health and disease.

Part of the issue is that “constipation” is a subjective term. Some of my patients tell me they are constipated even though they have regular BMs – it’s just that they don’t feel “empty” or properly “satisfied” after a BM. Other people only have a BM every couple days, and think that this is normal and natural. According to Ayurveda, everyone should have between 1-2 bowel movements a day, and so if you are having at least one BM a day we cannot say that you are constipated. However, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that you are having healthy BMs, and this is sometimes what people mean when they say they’re “constipated”.

Which brings us to the subject of poop itself – what is it? Mostly it is bacteria – over 60% by volume – and whatever indigestible fibers and foodstuffs the bacteria have been fermenting. If the BM is particularly smelly, it says something about the weakness of your stomach and gastric digestion – probably there is too much undigested protein making its way to the large intestine, encouraging bacterial putrefaction rather than fermentation. If this is you, reduce the protein in your diet so you can digest it properly, and take more bitter-tasting leafy greens and herbs like gentian or barberry before meals to stimulate the stomach and liver. And if it smells too fermented, sort of like a sweet compost-like odor, cut back on the carbs and other sweet foods, and take pungent-tasting herbs to enhance digestion such as garlic and ginger.  What you eat has a tremendous impact upon your digestive health, so pay attention! As you can see, I also recommend that you smell your poo, since as gross as it might sound, it provides good information about the nature of the bacteria that live in your gut. Normally a BM doesn’t have a particularly strong smell, apart from the fact that its poop and so still smells rather…well… “poopy” – but in a good way. Hey, nobody said we’re talking about roses here!

Since your BM is mostly bacteria, this is a good place to start when dealing with constipation. In essence, constipation is a deficiency of the “probiotic” bacteria such as Lactobaccillus and Bifidobacteria that live and grow inside your colon to produce a healthy BM. Thus an important place to start with constipation is in restoring the GI ecology. The best way to do this is to regularly eat live culture foods, and in particular, fermented vegetables. Unlike fermented foods such as kefir, kombucha, sourdough, wine, mead and beer which contain yeasts that can inhibit a healthy gut ecology, fermented veggies are totally bacterial, and totally beneficial. In my book Food As Medicine, I describe the simple process of making fermented veggies, and include recipes of common examples such as sauerkraut, kimchi, carrot pickle and relish. Compared to expensive store-bought probiotic supplements that are almost entirely dead by the time they get to your fridge, home-made fermented veggies are powerhouses of healthy bacterial colonies that only cost pennies a day. I recommend eating fermented veggies on a daily basis as a good way to prevent constipation. Sometimes it takes a little bit to get used to them, but once you experience their benefits, you will probably come to crave these foods.

Some people are constipated because they’re simply too dry. Drinking 1-2 large glasses of warm water first thing in the morning is a good way to get things moving, particularly if you get up early, before sunrise. In Ayurveda, sleeping in promotes constipation by countering the natural flow of vata dosha, which reaches its full expression just before sunrise. If drinking warm water alone doesn’t help, mix 1 tsp of triphala churna (powder) in with the first glass of water. While triphala is frequently recommended, there are many other herbs that are equally as useful, and can be taken first thing in the AM too. Yellowdock root tincture is particularly good for constipation, as is dandelion root and barberry rootbark. All three of these herbs as well as triphala are bitter in taste, stimulating bile release from the liver and gall bladder, which in turn stimulates intestinal peristalsis. Ensuring that the liver is properly stimulated, you can also try to introduce fattier foods into the diet, which helps to lubricate the intestine. Examples include meat soups and stews, eaten with steamed buttered vegetables or vegetables sauteed in fat. Likewise, taking demulcent herbs such as aloe, marshmallow and slippery elm can be helpful as well. For painful, difficult evacuation, you can even inject 2-3 ounces of warm sesame oil prepared with a pinch of rock salt into the rectum before bed.

There are many factors involved in constipation, and here I am only covering a few. To get more detail please visit my website at www.toddcaldecott.com, and my monograph on constipation.

Comments are now closed for this post. Please email your comments to info@foodasmedicine.ca.

How to make ghee

How to make ghee

Ghee is the classic cooking fat of ancient India, used not only in a variety of both sweet and savory dishes, but also as a medicine. The term ‘desi’ ghee means ‘home-made’ ghee, and originally referred to the pure, clarified oil rendered from cultured butter. Nowadays, most commercial ghee is made from non-cultured, creamery butter, and is not made according to the traditional, time-honored methods used in Indian villages for millennia. As such, this type of clarified butter does not have the virtues and benefits of traditionally made ghee. The difference is not only in the aroma and taste of the ghee, but in its chemical composition. From an Ayurvedic perspective, ghee made from cultured butter contains within it the quality of agni, which offsets the heavy and congesting properties of regular butter and clarified butter. To make proper ghee, always make it from unsalted, cultured butter.

Ingredients
2 lbs. (900 g) unsalted cultured butter

Directions
Melt the cultured butter in ceramic, glass or stainless steel pot, either in the oven at 250˚F/120˚C, or on low heat on the stove. Cook for 2-3 hours or so, until the butter separates into three distinct layers: a thin layer of impurities on the surface, the middle layer that contains the ghee, and the bottom layer which contains the milk solids.  Take it off the heat and pour it off into a second bowl through a very fine mesh strainer or paper filter, leaving the congealed milk solids behind. Store the ghee in a dry glass container in a dark, cool location. To get the ghee out of the jar always use a clean dry spoon to avoid contamination and spoilage. Depending on the quality of the butter, this recipe will yield a little less than two pounds (750 g) of ghee.

In Ayurveda, ghee is a highly lauded food supplement, used to boost energy, improve the eyes, enhance the complexion, nourish the skin, balance the mind and nervous system, treat infertility and problems of pregnancy, counter deficiency (vata) and balance inflammation (pitta). When combined with other herbs it is said that ghee is ‘yogavahi’, meaning that it has the ability to augment the effects of any medicinal agent combined with it. Ghee is especially suited to children and the elderly, and is a rejuvenative in pitta conditions, often combined with honey for its nutritive effects, but never in equal quantities.

Shatadhauta is a type of ghee that has been kneaded in a copper vessel with very cold water, rinsed and then kneaded again with cold water – for ‘one hundred washings’. When prepared in this way the ghee becomes white like the moon, and is believed to have a cooling property, used in the treatment of burning sensations, skin disease, wounds, scars, and burns. When ghee has been aged in excess of ten years, called puraan ghee, it is thought to be much stronger in its overall action than fresh ghee, and when used as a medicine, balances all three doshas.

Sometimes I let my ghee cook for 3-4 hours, causing the proteins to congeal, making it easier to filter them out. It imparts a delightful nutty flavor to the ghee that is too amazing for words, and it would be great if it weren’t for the fact that these flavor compounds are generated through a Maillard reaction, which also results in the production of pro-oxidizing compounds, and thus isn’t so great for shelf life, and if you ate this all the time, not so good for health.