Are Spices Sattvic?
When I announced the launch of the Living Sattva Store on The WMarketplace, a thoughtful friend asked me a powerful question: “Are spices sattvic?” It’s a question worth exploring.
Sattva, in yogic and Ayurvedic philosophy, refers to the quality of purity, balance, harmony, and clarity. It is found in the foods, thoughts, and actions that uplift us. While the world around us offers a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, not everything we eat is sattvic in nature. Choosing sattvic food requires discernment—being mindful of what nourishes not just the body, but also the mind and spirit.
We often associate spices with their culinary role—adding flavor, aroma, and zest to our meals. Indeed, every spice we use in Hindu vegetarian cooking originates from plants. These herbs and seeds are more than just kitchen staples—they’re rich in essential oils and active compounds that awaken our senses and enhance digestion. But are they sattvic?
The answer depends on how the spices are used, in what proportion, and their effects on our body and mind.
Each spice serves a purpose. Let’s take the example of a dish like Easy Eggplant. Eggplant, by itself, has a mild, spongy texture and neutral flavor. When prepared with a small amount of oil, the spices added—like ivory lentils, chickpeas, roasted coriander, and red chili—begin to bloom. The oil helps activate the essential oils in the spices, allowing them to penetrate the eggplant and transform its taste. Ivory lentils add depth and earthiness, chickpeas offer subtle nuttiness, and roasted coriander provides a lingering, warm aftertaste. Red chili and salt balance the heat and bring harmony to the entire blend.
In this example, the spices chosen are warming and balancing—supporting digestion without overstimulating the body. However, not all spices are sattvic. For instance, onion, garlic, and overly pungent or hot spices can agitate the mind or overly stimulate the senses. Spices like cinnamon, while warming and healing, need to be used in moderation depending on the body type and season.
So, are spices sattvic? Some are. Many spices are indeed sattvic—especially when used mindfully and in the right combination. These include cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, ginger, and cardamom, among others. These spices support digestion, enhance mental clarity, and maintain internal balance. But others, especially those that cause intense reactions (sweating, heat, or dullness), may not be considered sattvic in regular use. They may be rajasic (stimulating) or tamasic (dulling), depending on their effect on the body-mind system.
That said, non-sattvic spices aren’t “bad”—many have strong medicinal properties. Ayurveda honors these spices for their healing effects. The key lies in intention, awareness, and moderation. Just like we wouldn’t take medicine unnecessarily, we shouldn’t overuse intense spices without cause. Listen to your body, adjust according to your constitution, and let your food be both nurturing and balancing.
Ultimately, sattvic food helps create a stable foundation for spiritual growth, clarity of thought, and emotional balance. It builds a body that can hold and sustain conscious expansion.
If you’re curious to begin a sattvic lifestyle or experiment with sattvic cooking, we have helpful guides on the blog to support your journey. Start by incorporating more sattvic meals each day and observe how your body and mind respond. You might be surprised at the sense of lightness and calm it brings.
We’d love to hear your thoughts or questions on sattvic spices or food. Feel free to write to us—we may include your questions in future blog posts!
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When I shared the announcement of opening a Living Sattva Store on The WMarketplace, a friend asked me this question, Are spices Sattvic?
Sattva is the quality of purity and goodness that is found in all things around us. All around us are several types of fruits and vegetables, most are suitable for eating, but not all of them are sattvic. There are simple and easy ways to make our food work for us and serve us as we need to carefully choose sattvic food at every meal. Read more about the benefits of sattvic food and how it supports the body and mind.
We usually associate spices with a gastronomic function in our daily life, mainly for use in cooking. All spices we use in Hindu vegetarian cooking come from plants. We add herbs to increase taste, flavor, and a unique ingredient to activate and engage our senses. The essential oils and special chemicals in the leaves, fruits, and seeds we use as spices act as stimulants, exciting our senses.
Each spice has a specific function. For example, when we want to adjust the flavor of a recipe, we add spices in a particular concentration. Let me illustrate this concept with Easy Eggplant: In this recipe, eggplant is the recipebase. By itself, eggplant is tasteless, spongy, fruit tissue with some seeds, and the addition of a spice combo is meant to enhance the flavor of the eggplant. Let me break down the science of assembling a sattvic recipe and the choice of the species used in that recipe to clarify the meaning of these. The first step of the formula is preparing the vegetables- the recipe asks us to cook the vegetable in little oil. This step is essential because oil makes it easier to blend other chemicals present in the spices when it enters the eggplant tissue. Ivory lentils bring in a combination burst of earthy and nutty flavor, while chickpea provides a lingering taste of lentils. The essential oils in the coriander seeds have an effective after-taste when you roast and grind them, leaving a trace of lingering flavor that further fuels your senses. Adding red chilis and salt balances the heat that lingers with the blending of other spices. All these properties make a spice blend memorable and give a different taste and flavor to our food.
In this example, all the spices in the blend are made to keep the body warm or moderate. Some vegetables or herbs have the effect of cooling the body or causing excessive heat. Onion, for example, causes cooling of the body. There are several warming spices, Cinnamon is one of them. This translates to their changing physiology or the ‘mood’ of their food for many people. If we observe closely, we will know that when we eat food with certain spices, the body’s physiology is changed, and it can be noticed by instant reactions such as sweating or cooling of the body.
Spices that elicit such reactions are not sattvic. This blog post provides a list of sattvic spices used in Hindu Indian cooking. Spices outside of this list are probably not sattvic, although every new herb must be examined case-by-case. However, spices that have little sattvic properties are neither useless nor must be avoided at all costs. Although sattvic, many of these spices have medicinal properties and help to heal the body in multiple ways. Just like one would be careful about the use of medicines, we should also be cautious about the use of the spices paying attention to the frequency, quantity, and stopping to take the benefit when the condition has passed.
In addition to helping our physiology and mood, Sattvic food also supports a body capable of supporting conscious expansion. Read more about this aspect of sattvic food in this blog post.
If you want to try out sattvic food or lifestyle, here is a blog post that might help you in the process. First, eat sattvic food every day to take control of your diet and health. Then, sign up for the newsletter to know more about sattvic food and lifestyle.
Write to us with your thoughts and questions. We will answer them in future blog posts.
