Digestion begins as soon as we put food in our mouth. This is the first place that enzymes get to work in breaking down what we eat and of course, it’s where we taste our food. When you think about taste, you might think about something being delicious or not and that’s it. While it is important that you enjoy the food that you eat, the tastes that I am referring to are Ayurveda’s six tastes that play a big role in digestion, nourishment and keeping us in balance.

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent (spicy/hot) and astringent are the famed six. Each classifies as either catabolic or anabolic, is comprised of two of the five elements, has the ability to pacify or aggravate a dosha, and has a season for which it is most prevalent and thus most appropriate to consume. These aren’t always tastes that we can identify. For example, I’ll bet you can recognize the spice of a hot pepper, but could you name a food that is astringent? It’s a little more difficult. This is in part due to some tastes not making much of an appearance in the American cuisine and also because sometimes the taste shows up more in how it makes us feel or how we digest. To me, knowing the six tastes is essential and holds more weight than going off of a doshic food list. When we can recognize the quality of our symptoms or imbalances, we can easily use the qualities of our food in our favor. And because each taste plays it’s own unique role, all six should be represented at each meal. Read below for a breakdown of each taste for more ease in putting it to use!

Photo by Anna Petrow

SWEET

Sweet is made of the elements of earth and water. It pacifies vata and pitta and aggravates kapha when in excess. It is anabolic and builds tissue. Sweet doesn’t only mean sugar sweet, but grains and milk are in the sweet category. There is a current trend to be grain free, but grains can really keep one balanced in the fall and winter. I also find that those who have sugar cravings are often avoiding grains with their meals.

SOUR

When you think of something sour, you salivate. Sour brings a moist quality to food that is balancing to vata but can aggravate kapha. It is comprised of earth and fire, so it is quite aggravating to pitta and not appropriate for summer. Sour is anabolic and accounts for so many foods that you might not think of as sour including fermented foods like yogurt and cheese. Sour is great in the winter and if you think about it, we originally fermented foods to store them to be eaten in the winter.

SALTY

Salty is salt. That’s it. It’s made of water and fire and is even hotter by quality than pungent/spicy. It is anabolic and causes us to retain water, so it is pacifying vata to but aggravating to pitta and kapha. It’s most appropriate in the winter, but in the spring and summer would make us retain water in a major way. Still, many pre-meal digestives involve a little pinch of salt to help increase your digestive fire. Seaweeds also have a salty quality that can be even better to add to meals than table salt.

BITTER

Bitter is not really common in the American diet and I have a hunch that is why we crave coffee. The best way for us to incorporate bitter into our diet is not coffee, but leafy greens. Bitter is catabolic and can break down tissue. It is made of air and ether and is quite light, thus it isn’t so great for vata dosha and can aggravate in excess. It is, however pacifying to pitta and kapha and a great taste to ramp up in the spring and summer months.

PUNGENT

Plain and simple, pungent is what we call spicy or hot. It’s what brings the heat when a server asks you if you’d like it mild, medium or hot. It’s also a taste present in onions and garlic. It’s composed of fire and air and is catabolic. It’s okay for a vata dosha to have a bit, but in excess this creates a drying effect that isn’t so great. Pitta situations tend to not need more fire, but kapha can often benefit. It’s not great in the summer months, but is essential for getting us going in the spring!

ASTRINGENT

Astringent is drying and what I believe to be one of the harder tastes to identify on the tongue. You can typically feel it’s effects. For example, you probably know popcorn, pretzels and beans to be drying to your body, but you don’t necessarily taste it. Well, I guess you can’t eat a lot of any of those without having to drink a little bit. But with astringent, think of a green banana and how that tastes or black tea. That will clue you in. Astringent taste is made of air and earth and is pacifying to pitta and kapha, but aggravates vata. It’s reserved to be a spring taste.