Eat butter but take buttermilk too!

[Guest guest]

Buttermilk is an elixir!

 

All vaidyas love food and to partake is the only way they can study

all foods at first hand! Today this author shares with the group his

weakness, his love of food! Summer is in full swing and global

warming is making the mercury shoot up. With soft drinks as well as

tea and coffee out, tender coconut milk and buttermilk are the only

worthwhile options left to cool the body.

 

Buttermilk is made from curd and the curd itself made from milk.

Buttermilk is very beneficial for the health. Vaidyas believe that

excessive use of anything is undesirable, but a limited use of any

food is beneficial. India is a country where you get tea and

buttermilk everywhere, at any time of the day. Our Railway minister

even made it available during train journeys. To offer buttermilk

after food and tea (at times away from food time) when a guest

arrives is the general rule in any town in India. No guest or friend

will leave the house without something other than water.

 

Though summer is hot, digestive Agni is low in summer. The buttermilk

aids the digestion of food. It causes deepana also, meaning that it

works as appetizer too. If some portion of butter is left in the

buttermilk, it may put on the weight as well. Body fat will increase

unless the butter is completely removed. When milk turns into curd,

the curd contains Lactobacillus culture. These bacteria create lactic

acid, hence their name. Their benefit lies in their property to kill

other bacteria which are dangerous for our health. There are an

estimated several trillion friendly bacteria comprising over 400

species in the average human gastrointestinal tract weighing nearly

two kilograms. When the intestines are healthy, there are more

friendly bacteria (probiotics) than the unfriendly or pathogenic

type; Lactobacillus Acidophilus is the most predominant of the

friendly bacteria in the upper intestinal tract. It helps reduce the

levels of harmful bacteria and yeasts in the small intestine and also

produces lactase, an enzyme which is important in the digestion of

milk. L. Acidophilus is also involved in the production of the B

vitamins (niacin, folic acid, and pyridoxine) during the digestive

process. Not only can Acidophilus and other probiotics tune up our

intestinal function and counteract antibiotic damage they also

stimulate the immune system to function more efficiently. When we

are ill, they can also contribute significantly to relieve health

problems ranging from indigestion and diarrhea to colon and liver

cancers.

 

While modern medicine does not take acidophilus very seriously,

regarding it as a health food only, not bothering to mention it to

their patients; but ayurveda has recognized the use of curd and

buttermilk as a beneficial food in diarrhea, irritatable bowel

syndrome (Grahani in ayurvedic language) and/or candida (thrush) in

the digestive and genito-urinary tract.

 

Destruction of pathogens by curd/buttermilk causes digestive fire to

increase. Having known this, curd and buttermilk are very popular in

the tropics. The author recommends both buttermilk and curd to be

taken freely during seasonal detox protocols.

 

To make good curd and buttermilk, take fresh milk and heat it to 40

deg centigrade. Add a little curd and let it cool. In four to five

hours, curd will be ready. Now churn the curd to make buttermilk. If

milk is fresh and unpasteurised, the curd will contain a greater

density of bacteria; as the curd ferments more, the medical

usefulness reduces. The buttermilk made from fresh curd has more

health benefits. Buttermilk obtained from excessively fermented curd

is detrimental to the health. Curd or buttermilk create lactic acid

in the intestines which in turn causes destruction of pathogens.

 

There are five different types of buttermilk made from curd. They

have slightly different properties as far as their curative powers,

and the way that they act in the gut are concerned. When curd is

added to water and churning produces butter, the buttermilk produced

this way pacifies pitta disorders but may add to kapha dosha. The

effect on everyone will differ depending on his constitution. Here of

course it is assumed that butter is ingested along with butter milk.

This buttermilk is heavier to digest and may cause drowsiness. When

butter is separated out, all three doshas are pacified. It causes

taste buds to become more active and hunger to increase. When water

is added to 50% of curd volume while making buttermilk, the

buttermilk is a tonic and can remove fatigue. The buttermilk made by

addding 200% water to curd is very easy on the digestion, being a

cooling, pitta pacifier, satisfying the thirst and removing fatigue.

 

Buttermilk can be made sweet (by adding sugar), salty (by adding

salt), plain, thin or thick consistency, as the situation demands.

Sweet buttermilk is good in Vatic and pittic disorders, but slightly

heavier to digest. Slightly sour buttermilk is good for the

digestion, but if sourness increases beyond a certain limit, it

increases pitta dosha. Though the name is buttermilk, the one with

all butter removed is lighter to digest and contains all the

desirable properties of buttermilk. It can give supporting treatment

to cure several diseases such as Pandu (anemia), Grahani (IBS), Arsha

(piles), Bhagandar (fistula), Prameha (diabetes), Atisar (diaorrhea),

shoola( stomach ache) and all diseases of the stomach, anorexia,

indigestion, leucoderma and swellings.

 

Let us examine usage of curd in ayurveda. Generally curd made from

buffalo milk is heavier to digest while that from Indian cows' milk

is lighter to digest. Curd which has turned sour should be discarded

as it can cause various diseases. It can only be used for

fermentation of items required for specific recipes. Diarrhea, watery

loose motions, IBS etc are the conditions where curd can carry out

50% of cure along with other medicines. Author recollects a special

curd made in earthen pots for IBS patients, which he will cover in

special post related to IBS. Though curd gives good nutrition to body

and causes increase of strength, ayurveda does not recommend eating

it after sunset when it becomes heavier to digest and promotes Kapha

dosha. Curd should be fresh and slightly sweet rather than sour. If

it is not adequately set or is excessively fermented it causes loose

motions. Curd can promote Kapha and obesity. It can also cause

increase of Pitta and digestive agni. But if you add honey, sugar,

salt or amalki powder while eating curd, its undesirable properties

get balanced. Curd is further processed to make Shreekhand, a

traditional sweet. But as sugar is added here, it has all the

undesirable properties of sugar consumption. The Saurashtrians from

Gujarat state of India have Khitchri with curd as their default menu

during dinner. Curd, when added to khitchri, aids digestion of green

gram proteins, which are already easy to digest. To reduce Kapha

causing property of the curd, add a little pickle or papad (apalam).

This adds to the digestive fire too.

 

Returning to buttermilk, it is termed elixir of Bhuloka (earth) in

old texts. Ayurveda has gone quite deeply into the properties of

buttermilk. It is termed Roghara (the eliminator of diseases). It has

a unique property that dilution by water makes more powerful Deepak

meaning promoting digestive fire. While sour buttermilk can aggravate

pitta, the sweet one pacifies pitta. Piles, IBS, low digestion are

some of the disorders where it becomes a very useful remedy.

 

Despite being a milk product, its taste pacifies Kapha too. It

pacifies Vata also due to the sweet and slight sour taste. It builds

Haemoglobin. Buttermilk is used as a starter for fermenting the raw

dough when making dhokla. Buttermilk can be consumed during winter

too without any fear of Kapha. To make it more tasty, you can add

cumin seeds, ginger powder or fresh root pieces, Hingashtak churna,

Saindhav salt, sea salt, sugar, mint, coriander leaves, chopped

onion, etc

 

Lassi is another drink which is also very popular in India. Highly

nourishing but attracts dosha as ice and sugar are added here. In

summer however, body demands such drinks to quench the heat and

thirst.

 

When curd or buttermilk turns sour, do we throw it out? No, Gujarati

women have found several ways to use it in a healthy way. It is added

to rice and black gram flour mixture to ferment and Dhokla is made

similar to Idli by steaming process. Otherwise adding a little Bengal

gram flour and green curry leaves, a little ginger, and souting

(Baghar) a Kadhi is made, in which sometimes more ingredients can be

added. Fermentation of flour uses an excess lactic acid and makes

proteins easily digestible. To enjoy the taste of this Kadhi,

westerners should visit India, or an Indian restaurant in their

country. It contains all six flavours and is therefore a complete

food, as per ayurvedic definition. Now Indian airlines too has

adopted in its dinner menu.

 

Butter coming out of the buttermilk process is very useful in

maintaining the health. Many ayurvedic medicines are taken along with

butter and sugar to enhance the medicine's properties and to keep the

warming tendency of the medicine in check. While salted butter is

better in taste, it increases digestive fire, promotes taste in food

and what many may not know that it is a cardiac tonic which

strengthens the cardiac muscle. Butter has no competitor when central

nervous system disorders are concerned. Whenever you see a picture of

Lord Krishna in his infant days, invariably he will be seen eating

butter stolen from the earthen pots in storeroom. To enjoy the purest

milk products in India, one should visit Gokul, Brindavan, Mathura,

where Lord Krishna was raised.

 

Even allopaths recommend eating butter for patients suffering from T.

B. and other consumptive diseases. In Indian villages, rice or oat

bread along with butter and a little chutney of black sesame seeds is

all that is used by farmers living a simple lifestyle.

 

Ghee is for those, whose weak agni can not digest butter, but

buttermilk is for all, from 2 year old to 120 year old!

 

Yum!