Homemade Herbal Concoctions
by Sheela Rani Chunkath
I got the most delicious gond laddus done last weekend. The burra sugar did not arrive in our local shop as promised so I made it at home.
Making the sweet laddus and eating them up strengthened my resolve to brush my teeth with my homemade toothpowder. When I feel lazy I use a commercial herbal toothpaste. Nothing like a homemade toothpowder to strengthen your gums and keep your teeth, free of cavities. Some years back I had written in this column about an ayurvedic mouth gargle, Arimedadi tailam and briefly talked about a tooth powder. I have been making this powder at home and enjoy the garam masala flavour.
A young friend of mine who tried it said 'Aunty I would use this for my channa masala'. Many of the ingredients are in fact what you would use in your garam masala.
It consists of the following:
Cardamom 1 part
Cloves 1 part
Cinnamon bark 1 part
Trikatu 1 part (Three pungents namely dried ginger, pepper, long pepper in 1:1:1 ratio)
Triphala 1 part
(Terminalia chebula (Haritaki), Terminalia bellerica (Bibhitaki), Emblica officinalis (Amalaki))
Pure camphor 1 part
Oak galls (Masiphala) 1½ parts
Nutmeg (Jatiphala) 1 ½ parts
Grind all the above ingredients, sieve and use. Optionally you can add 1 part of the ashes of burnt paddy husk what we call ‘sambal’ in Chennai. Burnt paddy husk contains burnt silica and is therefore slightly abrasive. I make two versions one with the ashes and one without. I normally use the one without the ashes but use the other to remove plaque etc.
I find I have become a ‘compounder’ of sorts busy concocting various mixtures for friends and relatives. My daughter is very happy with the tooth powder and ashta churanam and often takes quantities with her (Refer article on Ashta Churanam for recipe). A friend of mine says she now makes a new kind of dosa; the ashta churanam dosa. She sprinkles a bit on the white side of the dosa while it is still cooking on the stove top. She says it tastes very good and is excellent for her digestion. It is a good rejuvenator as well.
Chennai’s cool weather continues and so do bad throats and lung infections. A quick remedy for bad throats which does not aggravate pitta consists of the following. Take 1 part ajowain seeds or omam and 1 part dried ginger. Saute the ajowain seeds in a little ghee and powder well. Powder the dried ginger too. Take about a ¼ part turmeric powder and mix to the above. Add honey liberally and keep licking the mixture from a teaspoon whenever your throat feels irritated or when you cough. This preparation, unlike the ones which have pepper, will not aggravate a pitta condition.
Many older people are unable to take pungent stuff. This mixture will not irritate the stomach or the gut lining and is in fact a good digestive too. So do try out these remedies and make a collection of your own family remedies. It is time to interview your grandmoms and great-grandmoms. I wonder if grandfathers are privy to such information or whether it is only the women who pass on the baton of knowledge to future generations.
--- The writer is retired Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. She can be reached at Sheelarani.arogyamantra@gmail. com. Earlier articles can be accessed at http://arogyamantra.blogspot.com/