Herbal Spotlight: Shatavari for Women’s Wellbeing
A treasured and widely used herb in Ayurveda, Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus) is one of the lesser known herbal remedies in the US, but certainly has countless benefits to offer for womens wellbeing. Found throughout India and the Himalayas, the shatavari plant is adorn with many long, graceful roots, which makes it alternately known as “one hundred roots”.
In Ayurveda, shatavari has a long traditional use as a prized women’s tonic, serving multiple rejuvenating functions for women’s life long health and wellbeing. Along with its powerful digestive anti-inflammatory properties, shatavari is known widely as a support for enhancing fertility, as a building uterine tonic, for increasing libido, and as an ally for menses throughout a woman's life. There is even traditional use of shatavari to support lactation, and re-regulating hormonal balance and menses after birth. As a gentle hormone modulator, women have relied upon shatavari for support during and after menopause. A true herbal ally for the female body, shatavari seems to adapt to the needs of each woman and what they need during certain times and cycles of their life.
As a deeply rich herb used to build vitality, juiciness and abundance both energetically and physically, over generations this adaptable and abundant herb has developed another cheeky moniker - “woman with one hundred husbands”.
Shatavari has both bitter and sweet flavors - two medicinal flavors that offer dynamic impacts on the body. Bitter is a very moving flavor, encouraging healthy detoxification, digestion, and elimination in the body. Sweetness is a very building and nourishing flavor, increasing vitality and encouraging recovery and strength in an individual. This supports the use of shatavari as a very replenishing herb for women’s health, everywhere from nourishing the blood to bringing moisture back to dry tissues throughout the body.
If there is one word to describe shatavari, it would be Rejuvenating.
Shatavari is one of the primary ingredients in Pukka’s Womankind Tea. Along with chamomile, cranberry sweet rose, hibiscus and vanilla, we formulated Womankind to support women and girls with relaxation, stress relief, and increasing feminine vitality all throughout life with ayurvedic herbal wisdom, and generational herbal connection from woman to woman.
Sourcing Pukka’s Organic Shatavari Root
Pukka’s shatavari is sourced from organic farms in Rajasthan, India. With the help of a solar-powered drip-irrigation system, the light sandy soil here provides the ideal conditions for its many roots to reach their full potential. It takes 18 months for the plant to grow from seed to being ready for harvest. The harvest itself is no easy task; a large hole must be carefully dug around the roots so that they are not damaged in the process of pulling them out. It can take up to half an hour per plant, and longer if it is deep in rocky ground. Once harvested every single root is carefully peeled to remove the thick outer layer, and then laid out on drying racks where it rapidly dehydrates in the hot desert air.
Traditionally, shatavari is collected from the wild. It is vital to ensure some roots are left undisturbed, so that the plant is able to regenerate. The rise in global demand, combined with a gradual loss of traditional knowledge, has led to over-exploitation of shatavari in its natural habitat and in some areas, it is now considered endangered. To be sure that we are not contributing to this impact, we only source shatavari from organic farms, where it has been sustainably grown. The harvests are almost all undertaken by women, which forms a perfect circle of Fair for Life premiums helping the women to harvest a herb that in turn makes Pukka creations that help other women