This is a warm, nourishing, grounding beverage made with dates and almonds in milk, infused with aromatic, flavorful and digestive spices like dried ginger, cinnamon and cardamom. I love the comfort, warmth and energy that this drink gives my family on a cold fall or winter day!
Ingredients (makes 4 cups of milk):
- Medjool dates (4)
- Almonds (8)
- Organic milk (3.5 cups) (you may replace with any non-dairy milk too!)
- Cardamom (1)
- Cinnamon (a small 1/2 inch piece)
- Dried ginger (a small 1/4 inch piece)
- Jaggery (optional – 3 tsp)
Method:
- Pit and chop the dates and soak them in hot water for a couple minutes. Don’t discard the water.
- Toast the spices on a pan for a few minutes, to bring out the flavor in them. Peel the cardamom and soak the toasted spices with the dates in the hot water.
- In another cup of hot water, soak the almonds for a few minutes. Discard the hot water, add cool water and peel the almonds. Discard the water.
- Grind the dates, almonds and spices with the water used to soak the dates. You may add some more water if it makes the grinding easier.
- Warm the milk and add the ground paste to it. Add jaggery, if you like your milk sweeter.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (milk, dates, jaggery, almonds, cinnamon), sour (none), salty (none), bitter (none), pungent (cardamom, cinnamon, ginger), astringent (none).
Doshic Influence:
Dates are nourishing and very highly regarded in Ayurveda. They are considered a great way to enhance the rasa dhatu (the first in a set of 7 bodily tissues in Ayurvedic terms – the 7 dhatus are rasa (lymph), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), medha (fat), asthi (bone), majja (marrow), shukra/artava (reproductive), which culminate in the “essence” of health or ojas). Almonds are also extremely nourishing and grounding – but it is always good to use them peeled to avoid ingesting the tannic acid in the peel. Fresh cow’s milk is also considered very good for overall health in Ayurveda – it is kaphagenic and mucus-forming in excess and slightly difficult to digest, but with the addition of the digestive spices like cardamom, cinnamon and dried ginger, these effects are neutralized. All the spices bring in the pungent taste here to balance the sweet ingredients and enhance the digestibility and flavor of this milk. With its warm, sweet, grounding yet invigorating qualities, and digestive, flavorful spices, this date almond milk is a great fall and winter drink!
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
This warm, sweet, nourishing and mildly flavored date almond milk is extremely sattvic in nature and helps build ojas and overall good health.