How to Create an Ayurvedic Pantry

Even if you are on a diet to pacify a specific dosha, it is still good to include all six tastes (sweet, salty, sour, astringent, bitter, and pungent). Focus on the ones related to the specific dosha you are trying to balance and take less of the other ones. In Ayurveda, understanding the tastes and including them in proportion to what elements you are balancing within your constitution is the key to unlocking nature’s healing power through diet.

For example, a person trying to reduce Pitta would include more of the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes and less of the pungent, sour and salty tastes.

Below is a guideline to the qualities of each of the tastes and how they interact with the dosha (‘+’ means to increase and ‘–‘ means to decrease. K=Kapha, P=Pitta, V=Vata).

Sweet: K+ PV – (Heavy, wet, cool like earth + water)

Sour: KP+ V – (Light, wet, warm like fire + earth)

Salty: KP + V – (Warm, wet, heavy like water + fire)

Pungent: K – PV + (Hot, light, dry like fire + air)

Astringent: KP – V+ (Cool, light, dry like air + earth)

Bitter: KP – V + (Cold, light, dry like air + space)

This thinking can be applied seasonally too, thinking about the qualities of the season. Take a cold season like Winter, for example. This is a wet, cold, ‘heavy’ grey time – oppose with tastes that are dry, warming/hot, light. Try the astringent (black tea), bitter (leafy greens) and pungent tastes (chilli). Avoid sweet (banana, milk), sour (vinegar, fermented food), salty tastes (salt, shilajit).

What to include in an ayurvedic pantry or kitchen? To round off and include all tastes in your everyday ayurvedic pantry, consider having the following staple ingredients on hand:

Sweet foods including sweet fruits (figs, peaches, pears, apples and berries), starchy root vegetables (beetroot, sweet potato), licorice, mung dal, honey, dates, rice, milk products which are grounding & calming, builds body mass, help to restore equilibrium to Vata and Pitta and can increase kapha characteristics.

 Sour foods like Citrus fruits, berries, tomatoes, fermented & pickled foods, sour cream, yogurt, vinegar, cheese, unripe fruits (e.g. raw mango), green grapes. These foods stimulate the appetite, aid digestion, can balance Vata, and increase Pitta and Kapha characteristics

Salty foods include various types of salt (table salt, sea salt, rock salt), seaweed, tamari, soy sauce, salty meat/fish. These stimulate the appetite, emphasises other flavours, balances Vata, can increase Pitta and Kapha characteristics

Pungent foods include peppers, chili, onions, garlic, cayenne, black pepper, cloves, ginger, radish, mustard seeds. They induce sweating, cleanses the paranasal sinuses, balances Kapha, can increase Vata and Pitta characteristics.

Bitter foods include green leafy vegetables, cabbage, celery, broccoli, bean sprouts, coffee, dark chocolate, dandelion root and leaves, turmeric, aloe vera, fenugreek, neem. They help to detoxify the body, balances Kapha and Pitta, and can increase Vata.

Astringent foods include lentils, dried beans, green apples, pomegranate, cauliflower, pomegranate, tea, unripe fruits e.g. banana, mango, turmeric, alfalfa sprouts and most raw vegetables. They balance Kapha and Pitta and can increase Vata characteristics

If you’d like a guide to eating ‘the ayurvedic way’ here is a link to some further reading.

Or, if you’d like to organise a consultation to customise your kitchen & diet to suit a seasonal way of living + eating or to manage a specific imbalance, please book in below or ring us for a chat.