Warmth

After talking about the physical temperature of food, I wanted to share a few spices that will warm up the energetic temperature of food regardless of whether it is eaten hot (wonderful!), warm (great!) or room temperature (better than cold!):

Ginger

Cinnamon

Cloves

Garlic

Pepper

Cardamom

Star Anise

If you have a very hot “constitution” (red face, quick to anger, hot body temperature, burning sensations) you may find you need to be careful with some of these additions.

But I put “constitution” in quotes because according to Classical Chinese Medicine we have no “set” constitution that is unchangeable, only a state that we are currently in and that may need balancing. And I put “may” in italics because even if you ARE experiencing some of those characteristics at this time, they are not ALWAYS due to excess heat in the body, so these spices may have no negative - or even a positive - effect. So the best assessment is paying attention to how you feel when you include these in your soups, salad dressings and smoothies - and enjoy! (And if you are cold (literally feel cold), sluggish, or have a pale, swollen tongue with scallops along the edges then you will quite likely enjoy these additions a lot!)

Photo: Jag_cz - https://www.shutterstock.com/g/jagcz?searchterm=spice+ginger&sort=popular

Copyright 2020 - Anni Elliston R.TCMP.