Avaleha & Prash
Avaleha and prash are thick, spoonable Ayurvedic preparations cooked with herbs, ghee and a sweetener; chyawanprash is the most familiar of them.
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Winter in many North Indian homes once meant a big jar of chyawanprash on the shelf and a spoonful offered to children on their way to school. That jar is the most familiar of the avaleha and prash group, but far from the only one.
Avaleha comes from a Sanskrit root meaning to lick, which describes the texture well: herbs are cooked down with ghee and jaggery, sugar or honey into a dense paste. Chyawanprash is built around amla with dozens of other herbs and spices, while kushmanda avaleha uses ash gourd and drakshavaleha uses grapes. Recipes come from classical texts, though each maker's version tastes a little different.
These pastes are sweet and rich, so read the composition for sugar, honey and ghee if you watch your diet, and look for the manufacturer's licence number, batch and expiry. A qualified Ayurvedic doctor can tell you whether one suits you. Use a dry spoon and close the lid firmly, since moisture can spoil the jar.