What Is Adaptogen – Facts, Guides and Recipes

Adaptogenic ingredients now trending in the food-and-beverage industry.

Adaptogen Guide for Foodservice Pros

Hungry for food-and-beverage industry news? Then adapt yourself – and your restaurant menus – to the following ingredients and latest buzz words in the biz. If you haven’t yet heard of amla, ashwagandha, ginseng, maca, maitake, holy basil, and cordyceps, it’s time to evolve and learn all you can about adaptogens and adaptogenic herbs.

They may be new to the U.S. market, but adaptogens are actually ancient herbs and roots that – as their name suggests – help the body ‘adapt’ to a wide range of stressors and events. Used for millennium in Ayurveda healing and in traditional Chinese medicine, adaptogens are now being infused into coffees, teas, juices, power bars, chocolate bars, chewing gum, gummy bears, granola, soups, salad dressings, and even burgers. Available as powders, liquid extracts, or consumed raw as part of a meal, today’s wellness-seeking consumers are gobbling up the goods and chefs, restaurant owners, and suppliers are updating their ingredient lists to include these super-herbs.

Adaptogen Benefits

So, what exactly do adaptogens offer your customers? The number one purported benefit of the revitalizing plants is stress relief, followed by a large serving of adaptogen benefits that include: helping regulate emotional states and hormonal responses, restoring homeostasis (overall balance), facilitating sleep, improving brain function, supporting fertility, boosting immunity, enhancing endurance, and more. In a nutshell, adaptogenics are a natural means of helping the body cope with any number of physical, chemical, biological, emotional, and environmental stressors. And for a consumer base that is thirsting for products that help them calm down, perk up, and achieve optimum health and happiness, adding adaptogens to your restaurant’s menu may be the perfect recipe for modern-day business success.

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