Cooked Apples with Cloves

Cloves - improves digestion, kills bacteria, high in antioxidants

Apples are healing and delicious. Cooked apples are tangy, sour, and sweet, all at the same time. It takes five minutes to cook a soft bite-sized cut-up apple. The liquid in the pot also makes a great drink that you can add to your oatmeal or tea. Apples open your blood vessels, which supports blood circulation to keep you warm in the cold months and cool in the summer.

Why cook an apple? Cooking the apple makes it easier to digest, especially when the apple is peeled. As delicious as a crisp apple out of the fridge can be, it can be a  shock to the system and more difficult to digest because of the cold hard skin, which is high in fiber. Cooked apples are softer and help with elimination as they are easier to digest. This is because they increase gastric secretions, which reduce gas and stimulate movement of food through the digestive tract.

Cloves are a very pungent (spicy), cooling herb. It is not just aromatic, but stimulating for your digestive system as well. You can actually chew or suck on cloves to freshen your breath. There are so many remedies for different ailments using cloves or clove powder. Svastha Ayurveda Online is a wonderful site for more information on how to use cloves to heal. Ayurveda, more broadly, speaks about the cloves' ancient healing properties.

Are cooked apples cooling for the summer? Oh ya! Apples are one of the best fruits to cool down your inner body temperature. Cooked apples will remove excess heat and inflammation from your gut. Apples are cool and dry - perfect for hot, humid summers. Additionally, apples are less acidic when cooked.

Note: I learned about this recipe ‘cooked apple’ for breakfast from my teacher Divya Alter. She’s the author of two books: What To Eat For How You Feel and Joy of Balance, and founder/owner of Divya’s Kitchen - my favorite Ayurvedic restaurant.

Sources:
Divya Alter - Ayurvedic Practitioner, Author and Owner of Divya’s Kitchen in NYC
Svastha Ayurveda - Ayurvedic Practitioner and founder of Svastha Ayurveda clinic and herbal apothecary

Recipe
1/2 cup water
1 apple cored and peeled
2 to 3 whole cloves
optional: a sprinkle of cinnamon - one of my fave spices in the colder seasons

Instruction

• in small sauce pan or small pot add 1/2 cup water and bring to boil on medium heat

• add the cloves to the water

• peel the skin, cut apple into bite size pieces

• place peeled apples and cloves into the hot water

• after water comes to a boil reduce the heat, cover, and set a timer for 5 minutes

• transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy right away - allow the apples to cool slightly

• Enjoy!

  Genia’s Spoon Me Self-Care

  I wrote my first poem ever in elementary school and it was called My Apple Tree. We had a giant apple tree growing on our property - I remember gathering apples to make apple tarts and cakes. My Dutch mother knew how to bake the best apple desserts - her apple tarts were and still are our favorites. You can find my apple tart recipe in the Dinner Table: Family Headquarters cookbook.
  
  After the apples are cooked, reserve the water in the pot to use as a sweet tea or add in an herbal tea of your choice. You can also add the liquid to oatmeal to bring some sweetness to your morning breakfast. I absolutely love this dish and it’s an easy recipe to make - no excuses!

  Cooking your apples is a great way to digest them, especially if you have an acidic allergy to fruits or gut sensitivity. By cooking the apples, the acid becomes alkalized. Try eating cooked apples for a pre-breakfast snack - they digest quickly and comfortably in the gut and help with elimination.

  Last but not least, what to do with all the peels? You can create baked apple chips with a sprinkle of cinnamon, dip into a cup of tea, or compost.

  Much love,
  Genia