Sweet, Astringent, Bitter, Pungent, Salty, Sour. ✨ These are “The Six Rasa Taste Elements” In Sanskrit the word #Rasa means “Taste” yet in #Ayurveda it is “The Essence of Life”.
Sweet taste is made up of the the elements of the #Earth and Water, it has cooling power on the digestive process.
In balance, sweets can promote a feeling of love and #wellbeing, a deep sense of satisfaction. In an ideal #Indian feast, taste of #sweetness will reflect as a subtle influence throughout the course of a meal and will bring about a proudly fulfilling experience.
The warning attribute of fire emerges from sour taste, which is heating,-‘d it enhances digestion and gives warming effect on the body as a whole. It’s been said, on an emotional and mental level, a small amount of sour taste conveys a refreshing sense of pragmatism. There’s a wake-up quality to sour which can bring us back to realism. Also an excessive use of sour food, on the other hand can stimulate envy, jealousy or irritation, what has been called “sour grapes”, such of pessimism.
Fire and #water are the elements which represent salty taste.
#Fire gives salt its warming digestive effect or power. Like sour and sweet flavours, salty taste tends to be somewhat moist and a bit heavy. It will stimulate water retention faster than sour taste, yet will not promote weight gain quite as fast as sweet.
The effect of salty taste on the #mind and feelings, covers a range, a small amount of salty taste can impart an outspoken, grounded quality to an individual.
On the other hand, it’s believed, excessive use of salt can result in an urgent and repeated #desire for gratification of the senses. My mother taught me, right balance of salt means everything in cooking and it could bring up the quality of other ingredients and break open the magical blend of flavours.
🔥 Air and fire are the nourishing elements in pungent taste, it’s the hottest of all tastes and most stimulant to digestion. It is light and dry in quality. #Pungent taste’s effect on awareness and emotion tends to be one of refreshing, #passionate movement.
In moderation, pungency can get a body moving, warm it up, get it motivated; similarly, it can work on the mind on a #healing upsurge. At the same time, in excess pungency can help unreasoning anger, aggressiveness, and resentment.
Again, it’s the balance within the individual systems, which dictates what’s too much or too little. Pungency intensified the glamour and appeal of the harmony of all spices and flavours.
By being the marvellous limelight of #Indian cooking, pungency came alive thru ginger, black pepper and other indigenous spices, then with added influence of #sensual manifestation in the form of chillies family few centuries ago, no wonder it is a globally accepted cuisine in the world today.
Bitter taste is made up of the elements air and ether.
Though it’s not the favourite to many, bitter’s the coldest and lightest of all tastes and bitter tends to be fairly dry.
Bitterness provides an excellent balance for the heavy, moisturising qualities of salty, sour and sweet tastes.
Bitter can lighten and enliven a meal, as well as providing generous amounts of vitamin a, iron, calcium, magnesium and other nutrients. Bitter taste’s effect on consciousness, in small quantities, is one of assisting a person to see life clearly Interestingly bitter herbs have been used in many cultures during vision quests or spiritual journeys.
Bitter can stimulate a sense of slight dissatisfaction, which helps us to push on and see things as they really are. Also, it’s believed, large quantities of bitterness can promote a chilling sense of disillusionment or grief. More than anything, bitter taste can be difficult to enjoy first, yet it can help balancing other flavours.
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