A Seasoning Recipe That’s Delicious and Supports Liver Detoxification

A traditional macrobiotic seasoning and salad topping is called gomashio. In keeping with spring cleansing, I have a variation of gomashio that’s a serious liver cleanser.

It’s also so delicious that it had me literally licking the bowl.

The recipe is based on Gomashio (also spelled gomasio), a condiment often used in place of salt in traditional Japanese cuisine.  Gomashio is also a part of the macrobiotic diet, where again it is used as a healthier alternative to salt.  I decided to make a “Liver Lover’s Gomashio” specifically designed to provide a plethora of nutrients and herbs to support cleansing the liver.

Liver Lover’s Gomashio

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup hulled sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup milk thistle seeds
• 1/8 cup broccoli seeds
• 2 teaspoons kelp powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (or more to taste)

Directions:

1. Using a mortar and pestle, a suribachi, or a small electric coffee grinder, grind milk thistle and broccoli seeds.
2. Add sesame seeds, and continue to process until fully ground.
3. Pour into a small glass jar with tight-fitting lid.
4. Add salt and kelp, and mix well.
5. Add extra salt to taste, but only if you aren’t on a salt-restricted diet. (Note: In the macrobiotic diet, gomashio is typically made with a ratio of 18 parts sesame seeds to 1 part salt. In shorthand, that’s a ratio of 18:1 of sesame seeds to salt by volume.)
6. Sprinkle on a salad, on soup, or over cooked vegetables.

Serve this topping over a bed of dandelion greens, known for their liver cleansing effects, grated burdock root, and your choice of mixed greens.  I drizzle flax oil and a hint of lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar, over the veggies, sprinkle on the Liver Lover’s Gomashio, and enjoy.

Variations:  Add other cleansing herbs like garlic, dill, cayenne, turmeric, ginger, or any other spice you like.

Liver Lover’s Gomashio derives its cleansing effects from an herb called Milk Thistle.  Milk thistle is a flowering plant of the daisy family.  It’s called “milk thistle” because it’s a thistle, and the leaves are banded with milky splashes of white, which at one point were thought to be Mother Mary’s milk.

According to Dr. Rudolf Weiss, a German MD, author, and herbal practitioner, milk thistle is supreme at healing chronic or acute liver damage, and protects the liver against many toxins and pollutants.  It’s used clinically when toxicity occurs, as in chronic alcohol abuse, drug use, coffee addiction, pesticide and herbicide exposure, use of poor quality water, or any other toxic exposures, or any of the other toxic exposures.

Milk thistle has the ability to tonify your liver, and aid in its regeneration, by strengthening the liver cell walls so that toxins cannot enter as easily.  Milk thistle also helps to prevent depletion of glutathione, a potent antioxidant, which combats liver inflammation and reduces elevated liver enzymes.

While milk thistle can be taken as an herbal remedy, in tincture or pill form, my favorite way to take it is to grind up the seeds and sprinkle on food.  Thus, the birth of Liver Lover’s Gomashio.

Other liver-cleansing and liver-supporting ingredients in this delicious condiment are:

• broccoli seeds, known for their ability to stimulate the often sluggish Phase II liver detoxification pathways, and to urge estrogen metabolites down the favorable protective pathways; and

• kelp powder, which is loaded with minerals, especially iodine, and is an excellent heavy metal chelator.

Enjoy some Liver Lover’s Gomashio today!  Your liver will love you for it.

If you come up with any delicious variations, please be sure to pass them on by posting a comment below!

Love, Health, and Joy,



Dr. Ritamarie

Comment below your experience with liver cleansing – and Gomashio!