What is amla?

Amla, also called amalaki or Indian gooseberry, is a small, sharp-tasting green fruit that has been part of Indian life and medicine for a very long time. In Ayurveda it holds an unusually high place, and modern nutrition has its own reasons to find it interesting.

In Ayurveda

The Charaka Samhita, one of Ayurveda's foundational texts, praises amalaki as a foremost rasayana, a rejuvenative said to support a long and healthy life. It is considered suitable for all three doshas, the body's governing tendencies, which is rare for a single substance. It sits at the heart of two of Ayurveda's best-known preparations, Triphala and Chyawanprash, and the Isha tradition describes it as treasured for thousands of years for its restorative, balancing effect on the body.

In nutrition

Amla is also one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C, several times more than most citrus fruits, and its vitamin C is unusually stable thanks to the tannins alongside it. There is a nice meeting point between the two views here: research on the traditional Ayurvedic way of preparing amla found it actually raised the fruit's vitamin C content, rather than destroying it as heat often would.

Ways people take it

Amla turns up in many forms: eaten fresh or dried, juiced, stirred into water as a powder, or in preparations like Triphala and Chyawanprash. Some people also use a piece of fresh amla to steady hunger while fasting. It is sharp on its own, so most people find their own way to take it.

You don't need to take amla as a remedy to enjoy it as a food. If it appeals, bring it into your week and see how it sits with you.