For thousands of years plants have been used as medicine. It has not been until recently that the scientific community has begun to study and isolate certain compounds in plants and utilize them as medicine. This strategy of isolation and reductionism has proven useful to develop new drugs that treat many diseases. Unfortunately in conjunction with these advances in treatment there has been an explosion of unwanted side effects normally mitigated by the synergistic nature of the whole plant. Ayurveda has long since seen the strength of using whole plants and combining them in artful way to create personalized cures. Just like any effective team or group when herbs are combined together they become more powerful than their individual parts.

Unless you have gone to culinary school or love talking about food you are not familiar with the Maillard reaction coined after the French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard. It is this reaction that gives grilled meat and veggies it characteristic pigments and flavors. The reaction rearranges amino acids and simple sugars in the food to create complex flavors and smells that we have come to love.

Foods that are boiled, poached, or steamed do not go through the Maillard reaction because the temperatures are not high enough to dehydrate the surface of the food. Foods grilled, roasted, or otherwise cooked at temperatures above the boiling point of water create this complex and delicious flavor.  Read More