Chyavanprash (), originally Chayavanaprasham, is a cooked mixture of

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...

, Indian gooseberry ( amla)

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...

, sesame oil, berries and various

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

and spices. It is prepared as per the instructions suggested in

Ayurvedic Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

texts. Chyavanprash is widely sold and consumed in India as a

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

Origin

Chyavanprash is an ancient formulation and product. Various ancient Indian texts like Mahabharata, Puranas etc., relate that Ashvin twins, who were Raja Vaidya (Royal Physicians) to

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

s during Vedic times, first prepared this formulation for Chyavana

Rishi ''Rishi'' () is a term for an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mentions in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "great yogis" or ...

at his

Ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

Dhosi Hill Dhosi Hill is an important Vedic period site, an extinct volcano, standing alone at the north-west end of the Aravalli mountain range. Its height varies from about 345 to 470 meters from the surrounding lands and 740 meters from the sea level. ...

near Narnaul, Haryana, India, hence the name ''Chyavanprash''. The first historically documented formula for chyavanprash appears in the ''

Charaka Samhita The ''Charaka Samhita'' (, “Compendium of ''Charaka''”) is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the ''Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancien ...

'', the ancient Ayurvedic treatise from the early first millennium BCE.

Taste and appearance

Chyavanaprash tastes sweet and sour at the same time. The taste is dominated by the flavors of honey,

(clarified butter) and amla, and the smell by ghee and other spices including sandalwood, cinnamon and cardamom.

Consumption

Chyavanaprash is usually consumed directly. It can also be consumed along with warm water.

Composition

The recipe of chyavanprash is mentioned in manuscripts written for ayurvedic method of treatment viz. Ashtangahridayam, Charakasamhita, Sangandharasamhita. The number of herbs used may vary from 25 to 80 but the main ingredient of all chyavanprash is amla. Other chief ingredients are: * Ashwagandha (''Withania somnifera'' or Winter cherry) * Asparagus (''Asparagus racemosa'') * Amla * Bamboo manna *

Blue Egyptian water lily ''Nymphaea nouchali'' var. ''caerulea'', is a water lily in the genus ''Nymphaea'', a botanical variety of ''Nymphaea nouchali''. It is an aquatic plant of freshwater lakes, pools and rivers, naturally found throughout most of the eastern half ...

(Makhana) * Cardamom *

Chebulic myrobalan ''Terminalia chebula'', commonly known as black- or chebulic myrobalan, is a species of ''Terminalia'', native to South Asia from India and Nepal east to southwest China (Yunnan), and south to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Vietnam.Flora of China''Term ...

* Chinese cinnamon * Cinnamon bark *

Clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

* Indian rose chestnut * Country mallow * Feather foil plant ('' Phyllanthus niruri'' or Bhumiamalaki) *

Gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

s *

Ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...

* Giant potato (''Ipomoea mauritiana'' or Kiribadu Ala) * Giloy (Guduchi) (''

Tinospora cordifolia ''Tinospora cordifolia'' (common names gurjo, heart-leaved moonseed, guduchi or giloy) is a herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae indigenous to tropical regions of the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in Ayurveda to treat various diso ...

'') *

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

* Indian kudzu * Irish root *

Liquorice Liquorice (British English) or licorice (American English) ( ; also ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring can be extracted. The liqu ...

* Long pepper (''

Piper longum Long pepper (''Piper longum''), sometimes called Indian long pepper or ''thippali'', is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Long pepper has a taste simil ...

'') * Malabar nut (Seed of ''Adhatoda vasica'') * Nut grass * Potassium sorbate * Raisins * Round zedoary * Sandalwood * Sesame oil * Spreading hogweed (''

Boerhavia diffusa ''Boerhaavia diffusa'' is a species of flowering plant in the Nyctaginaceae, four o'clock family which is commonly known as punarnava (meaning that which rejuvenates or renews the body in Ayurveda), red spiderling, spreading hogweed, or tarvine. ...

'') *

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

Tiger's claw ''Erythrina variegata'', commonly known as tiger's claw or Indian coral tree, is a species of ''Erythrina'' native to the tropical and subtropical regions of eastern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, northern Australia, and the islands of the Ind ...

or Ice plant ('' Erythrina variegata'') * Wild black gram * Wild

green gram The mung bean (''Vigna radiata''), alternatively known as the green gram, maash ( fa, ماش٫ )٫ mūng (), monggo, or munggo (Philippines), is a plant species in the legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract G ...

All of the major brands of chyavanprash were determined to be safe with respect to heavy metal content as of 2011 by Consumer Voice.

References

{{Dabur Group Dietary supplements