Moringa
The small, round leaves of the drumstick tree that grows in so many Indian backyards. Green and grassy, they are cooked as a vegetable all over the south.
- Settles Kapha
- Settles Vata
- Can raise Pitta
How Ayurveda reads moringa
- Rasa · taste
- Pungent, bitter (kaṭu, tikta)
- Guṇa · nature
- Light, dry, sharp (laghu, rūkṣa, tīkṣṇa)
- Vīrya · potency
- Heating (uṣṇa)
- Vipāka · after digestion
- Pungent (kaṭu)
- Part used
- Leaf
Reviewed by the Vapika team.
In the tradition
The drumstick tree grows fast in dry ground and gives food from every part: leaves, flowers and the long green pods. The texts describe śigru in red, white and blue-flowered kinds, and list it among the greens and vegetables.
How Ayurveda reads it
Shigru is pungent and bitter, light, dry and sharp, and heating. It is described as settling Kapha and Vata.
In the Indian kitchen
Drumsticks in sambar and in Bengali shukto, murungai keerai poriyal and adai in Tamil Nadu, sahjan ki phali ki sabzi in the north, and the flowers fried as pakoras in spring.
How we use it
Dried moringa leaf is the heart of our moringa tea, coming soon.
From the texts: Caraka Saṃhitā, Sūtrasthāna 27 (Śāka varga); Bhāvaprakāśa Nighaṇṭu, Guḍūcyādi varga (śigru).
For learning, not diagnosis. If you are pregnant, nursing or on medication, please speak to your doctor first.