Struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep? Try this warming golden milk recipe

What are the benefits of this golden milk of bliss? The almond milk gives a delicious, sweet taste, heavy and oily in quality. It builds, strengthens and has aphrodisiac qualities that boost fertility. The aromatic essential oils in cardamom pods are used to help digest the highly nutritious fats in this replenishing elixir.

One of the remarkable things about saffron is that the colourful pigments are both water- and fat-soluble, meaning its depression-lifting, blood-circulating, aphrodisiac qualities are easily extracted and only small amounts are needed. A sprinkle of golden magic turmeric root helps bring warmth to your digestion and a little more life to your life. Because turmeric helps increase the flow of blood deep into your tissues and organs, it brings more nutrition and health to your whole body and mind.

Believed to “hold the energy in”, nutmeg is calming and helps to break the tiring sleep-awake-sleep-awake pattern of transient insomnia. Ashwagandha root is one of nature’s greatest gifts – it helps us sleep well, therefore giving us more energy. Its Latin name is Withania somnifera, alluding to its gentle soporific effects, which are accentuated when it’s used at night and with milk. Ashwagandha means “the smell of a horse” –  you won’t smell like a horse the next day, but you will wake with the grace, elegance and vigour of one.

Golden Milk of Bliss
Makes one cup

Ingredients

• 150ml almond, rice or other milk
  
• 2 tsp ground almond
  
• 2 pods cardamom, gently crushed/split
  
• 5 strands saffron
  
• a pinch turmeric root powder
  
• a pinch nutmeg powder
  
• 1/2 tsp ashwagandha root
  
• honey, to taste

Method

1  Gently warm the milk in a pan for a few minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients (except for the honey).

2  Pour into a cup and stir in some honey. (Ashwagandha powder has a bit of a funny taste, so if you prefer you can take an ashwagandha capsule when you drink the milk instead.) The ground almond sinks to the bottom, so stir before drinking.

Extracted from Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea by Sebastian Pole, co-founder of Pukka Herbs (Frances Lincoln, approx €24). Photograph: Kim Lightbody.