Usually, food products containing 80 unfamiliar ingredients are not those we consider to be healthy. (Take, for example, the Twinkie, which contains a measly 37 ingredients.)
With Indian Chyawanprash spread, however, this is not the case.
Tiger’s Claw, Liquorice, and Bamboo, Oh My!
Chyawanprash is a popular nutritional jam in India composed of dozens of ingredients, which are believed, in the tradition of Ayurvedic medicine, to boost immunity, prevent disease, and aid digestion. The primary ingredient in Chyawanprash is Indian gooseberry, also known as amla, a fruit that is simultaneously sweet, sour, astringent, bitter, and pungent. Thus, Chyawanprash is considered to be a balancing supplement.
It also contains sugar and honey, spices like cardamom and cinnamon, and obscure plants such as crab’s claw and spreading hogweed. The flavor is sweet, herbal, and spicy. The instructions advise spreading a teaspoon on bread or eating it plain.
Sinister antioxidants
If you are not a fan of the taste and texture, you can also try dissolving the spread in hot water to make a kind of tea. I have never tried this, but I think it would taste better as a beverage.
WOW! You tried Chyawanprash?? Bravo! I hate that stuff – it is such a big thing in some families in India…specially in winters. I lot of people mix a teaspoon of this in warm milk and drink it in the mornings. Although I’ve never seen or heard anybody eating it like a spread.
LikeLike
Haha, yup. I first learned about it from my stepmom, who eats it on bread for breakfast. (And she isn’t even Indian!)
LikeLike