Why Herbal Ghee? A Traditional Perspective

If you love ghee, you have smart taste buds! It’s not only delicious and nutritious; it’s an awesome, fragrant, buttery oil that happens to hold an exalted place in Ayurveda, India’s ancient medical system. Ghee has beautiful benefits just as it is, but those benefits are even more amplified when prepared with herbs such as Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Shatavari, Arjuna, and classical blends like Triphala.

Ghee, known as Ghrita in Sanskrit, is a traditional Ayurvedic preparation valued for its nourishing qualities. In Ayurveda, it is described as having a madhura rasa (sweet taste), a gently cooling virya (energetic effect), and an ability to support, bring, and maintain balance within the dhatus (bodily tissues). Ghee is traditionally considered tridoshic, meaning it is traditionally regarded as suitable for individuals of all three constitutional types (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) without disrupting their natural balance. It is often used in Ayurvedic practices and daily routines to support general well-being and overall nourishment. (For more on Ayurveda and the three doshas, you can check out our blog post, Introduction to Ayurveda: a Balance of the Elements).

Cooking with ghee is a popular choice, but make no mistake about it – ghee is far more than just a cooking oil. It is one of the primary carriers (anupanas) for herbs and is used to create specialized preparations known as Siddha Ghritam (herbal-infused ghee). In the same way Ayurveda employs herbal oils, lehya (herbal jams), ksirapaka (herbal milks), arista (herbal fermentations), and kvatha (decoctions), herbal ghees are another classical method for delivering the nutritional qualities of plants throughout the body.

Exploring the language behind ghee offers insight into why it is so honored in the ancient Ayurvedic texts. The Sanskrit word for oil is “snehana”. It comes from the root, “Sneha”, meaning love, affection, and unctuousness. This connection emphasizes the nourishing and supportive qualities that ghee is believed to impart. As Robert Svoboda points out in his 1999 book, Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution, “Sneha also means love…Sneha is a bonded, secure love relationship”. According to Ayurvedic texts, ghee is traditionally regarded as a supportive food for overall vitality and for helping to maintain ojas, the subtle essence associated with well-being and resilience.

Ayurveda has always believed that the nourishing qualities of ghee are enhanced when combined with herbs and spices, and similarly, ghee is viewed as a supportive carrier for the properties of herbs. This is believed to help remove toxins, known as “ama”, and deep-seated dosha-related imbalances from the tissues. As such, herbal ghee preparations have been utilized for that unique, special synergy that occurs between the ghee and the herbs.

While plain ghee has a naturally sweet, mild rasa (taste), herbal ghee often carries the taste of the plants infused within it. Ayurveda recognizes six tastes—madhura (sweet), amla (sour), lavaṇa (salty), kaṭu (pungent), tikta (bitter), and kaṣāya (astringent). Each taste contributes to balance and is linked to specific energetic effects.

Many contemporary diets emphasize sweet and salty tastes while offering fewer bitter and astringent options. By tradition, herbs such as Ashwagandha, Brahmi, Arjuna, Shatavari, and the Triphala blend, have been associated with tikta (bitter) and kasaya (astringent) rasas. For this reason, many herbal ghee preparations may taste more bitter or astringent than what you are used to. Bitter and astringent flavors are considered supportive for the body’s natural cleansing processes, and the astringent taste is traditionally associated with helping to maintain the firmness and tone of bodily tissues. While the flavor may take some getting used to, herbal ghees have long been regarded as supportive tonics in Ayurvedic practice.

Here are a few reasons ghee has been used as a medium for herbal preparations in Ayurveda:

1. In Ayurvedic practice, ghee is valued for its ability to serve as a carrier for herbs. When prepared together, ghee and herbs are believed to work synergistically, helping to support the body’s access to the qualities of the herbs while maintaining ghee’s own nourishing properties.
2. Ghee is traditionally used to help maintain the stability of herbal constituents over time. When herbs are infused into ghee, their delicate components are believed to remain potent for longer periods of time.
3. Blending ghee with herbs supports the concentration of herbal qualities: Ayurvedic texts describe how slow, careful preparation of herbal ghee allows the fat-soluble components of herbs to be incorporated into ghee, creating a more concentrated herbal preparation.

Traditional uses of herbal-ghee preparations in Ayurveda were meant to help support clarity and calmness of the mind, promote balanced energy, and nourish the dhatus, including asthi (bone) and mamsa (muscle). Such preparations are described as having yogavahi qualities, meaning they can support the delivery of herbs deep into the system. Ghee is also traditionally included in cleansing protocols, such as snehapana, where it is used in gradual amounts to support the mobilization of ama (undigested or stagnant material) according to classical theory.

Herbal ghee is typically enjoyed as a supplement rather than a cooking fat. Common traditional methods include stirring a spoonful into warm water or blending it into warm milk—such as haldi-doodh (turmeric milk).

 Across centuries, ghrita has been described as a substance that maintains its own nourishing qualities while adopting the characteristics of the herbs infused within it. Siddha Ghrita continues to hold a respected place in Ayurveda as a supportive preparation, reflecting the tradition’s emphasis on balance, nourishment, and the thoughtful use of food as a means of cultivating harmony.

By using ghrita as a medium for herbs, traditional Ayurvedic practice suggests that one may receive benefit from access to the qualities of both the herbs and the ghee.

REFERENCES

Dass, V. (2013). Ayurvedic herbology. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Press.

Kent-Stoll, G. (2018). Ayurvedic uses of herbal oils. The Herbal Academy https://theherbalacademy.com/ayurvedic-uses-of-herbal-oils/ March 8, 2018.

Svoboda, R. (1999). Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic constitution. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.