Amla tell you a bit about a superfood
- col-dave-mast
- January 24, 2025
- 365
What do you do when something that is so good for you tastes so bad that it makes you wince, throw up a little bit in your mouth and nearly pas out from the sheer bitterness of it?
Welcome to my world, where the little-known miracle food amla ruins each morning.
What, I hear you saying as you read these words, is amla?
Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t a doozy of a treat kids will beg for after they’ve struggled to chow down their mixed vegetables.
Amla, also known as Indian gooseberry, is a type of fruit found on the Indian subcontinent. The amla fruit itself is yellowish-green and is considered a sweet delicacy served with the fruit soaked in a sugary syrup.
Delicacy?
I’d beg to differ.
However, I can safely tell you I know why they soak it in honey: If you ate the stuff as is, your mouth would immediately spit it out and you’d swear off eating it ever again.
At least amla powder is relatively inexpensive, a check mark on the plus side of the ledger.
According to several reviews and most importantly word from Dr. Gregor, a published author my wife and son Neil swear by, amla contains helpful ingredients such as vitamin C, providing 600-800% of the daily value, as well as valuable amino acids, minerals, essential oils, fatty acids, tannins and glycosides.
OK, I’ll admit I don’t even understand the entire latter half of that list, but I’ll accept that those are all good things.
And a review in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology says amla powder benefits humans in terms of respiratory symptoms, asthma, bronchitis, healthier skin, cardiac issues, high blood pressure, blood sugar levels and more.
Basically, this is the Superman of super foods, the one food that can heal whatever ails you.
So if it’s so doggone good for you, why does it have to taste like a combination of ground-up tires, old socks and Hulk Hogan’s sweat mixed together in eight ounces of lemon extract?
I mean this stuff will make you pucker, cough and gag at the same time.
I’ve resorted to mixing it with numerous items to try to stave off the taste, but nothing works because this stuff is King of Crude, something that will grab each one of your taste buds individually and pummel it into submission.
No matter where I am in the house, I can always tell when my wife is taking it because I can actually hear her making all types of groaning sounds and emitting high-powered hisses that would cause a snake to seek refuge.
So why does something so amazingly good for you have to taste so atrociously bad?
I believe many people might argue the same thing about week-old broccoli, which tastes like an absolute savory steak or bowl of mint gelato next to amla powder.
Heck, why do all foods that taste great have to be so bad for your health while all the gross ones are so good for you?
I think that’s God’s little sense of humor.
As a matter of fact, I Googled “worst tasting foods” to find this list of offenders: Circus peanuts, cooked cabbage, tripe and something called chitterling, which sounds awful by name alone, but I know nary a one of these foods can compare to the overpoweringly vile taste of amla.
So why, in the name of all that is good and right, do we keep drinking this stuff every morning?
Mainly because of the health value of it and also because the cringe-worthy taste only lasts for about 15 seconds, which is how long it takes to throw something else down the gullet to wash away the taste.
Is it worth it?
We believe it is, although we have no scientific proof that it is so. We will trust Dr. Gregor and the articles we’ve read as our guiding light on the matter of amla.
Thus, in the name of our bodies, we salute amla powder and its magical healing powers, at once the scourge of the Earth and the saving grace of health.