Shatavari Root Powder.

A cup of warm milk in the evening, half a teaspoon of pale powder stirred in with a little honey or ghee, and a few slow minutes to drink it. In Ayurveda, shatavari is traditionally simmered in milk or ghee: a small ritual as much as anything else.

Shatavari comes from the tuberous roots of Asparagus racemosus, a climbing, needle-leafed relative of garden asparagus that grows wild across India's forests and foothills. The roots grow in dense clusters, and the name is often translated as she who possesses a hundred roots, though older texts render it a hundred husbands, a wink at the plant's reputed vitality. Ours is grown in Madhya Pradesh, harvested at full maturity when the tubers are thickest, then shade-dried rather than sun-bleached to keep its pale color. Milled to an ivory powder, it has a faint bitter-sweet, almost milky smell.

In Ayurvedic practice it is classed as a rasayana, a rejuvenating tonic, long valued by women across the different stages of life.

Details

• Botanical name: Asparagus racemosus
• Part used: root, shade-dried and milled
• Origin: Madhya Pradesh, India

How to use

Warm a cup of milk or a milk alternative, stir in half a teaspoon with a little honey or ghee, and drink it slowly in the evening; some prefer it at breakfast instead.

An unhurried root for an unhurried evening.