LIQUORICE AS A MEDICINE? IT TAKES ALL SORTS

If you’ve grown up in the UK you’re probably most aware of liquorice as an aniseedy-tasting black layer used in sweets. Hard to imagine it in the form of a 2 metre plant that sprawls across the ground, with vivid violet flowers or more gentle blue ones.

The stems and roots of mulathi, as liquorice is known in Ayurveda, have more than 300 active compounds. Many have medicinal applications, particularly concerning inflammation, infection, and blood. Other specific uses include reducing stomach acid levels, relieving fever, working with coughs, and is known for its laxative effect. It’s also valuable for treating female hormonal issues. There’s more too – it can protect from liver damage and is helpful as a diuretic in cases of problem with urination.

Knowing how to work with liquorice (the examples above could continue for a few hundred words more) has taken generations. Ayurveda has that knowledge, and centuries of understands about how to apply it to an individual in line with their dosha.

Mulathi has special resonance for those with a lot of kapha in their dosha make-up. A tendency to mucus and chest problems, as well as water retention and related conditions, mean that some of our products designed with kapha in mind feature mulathi, such as our Tri-Dosha kapha balancing cream.

There are times of the year that make it more likely we’ll experience conditions that mulathi is beneficial for even if we don’t think of ourselves as being a kapha type. Remember, those terms are designed like all our learnings to be useful in all the rich variety of our journeys through life, not to pin us down. They wander and branch like liquorice as it grows, encountering new soil and changes in weather month by month…

Until next time … Namaste

Founder Tri-Dosha