Fruits of India........!!!!!

fsg

Jack fruit can be used as sweet or savoury.

Some Indian friends of ours visiting UK made a delicious savoury side dish out of our homegrown rhubarb.

In TN you get [ phonetic] Bumbleymass which grows in the forest and the locals use them as footballs, in UK we used to get them as Ugli fruit, a cross between orange and grapefruit. I suspect the Indian version was natural..

What a good list tho

Nick-H

Event the seed from the jackfruit can be cooked and eaten; it looks and tastes rather like a 'butter bean'

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grikoo

My apologies for not being available the last week. I've been incredibly busy trying to extricate myself from householder-ship, in an effort to make my way back to India on a more permanent basis.

To answer a few questions:

Yes, you could say plants are one of several of my 'things', and had several hundred thousand at one point prior to my semi-retirement. Fruits and other economic crops aren't really my botanical specialty (which is actually a very small group of plants in a rather large family which really has no edible fruits in it), but my study of them has been going on for many years. Wouldn't all all consider myself an expert in this field, but have an ongoing interest in seeing that people appreciate the great wealth and diversity that the world offers them. I also love to cook and am always looking for new ingredients,so have eaten a fairly wide range of odd things. I'll answer whatever questions I can, but am sadly not particularly knowledgeable regarding Indian fruits, as most of my research has been in the areas of South America, and more extensively in Africa. Can easily answer standard gardening questions though.

Regarding my relative 'fruitiness'----Well, that should be obvious to those having kept up with posts on other topics. Oddly, botany is one of the least fruity topics that I typically discuss , although my typical interpretation of plant taxonomy might easily offend the sensibilities of the most liberal botanists.

Regarding the exclusion of more common fruits- The thread was sort of intended as a reference for fruits that would be uncommon to westerners (and Indians too), so I left out the more commonly known species.

Chikoos- Saw them available in AP in July, but most of the crop didn't seem to be ripe yet. (there are apparently several varieties that fruit at different times of year, and the major one seems to fruit a little later, probably sometime in august). I found them pretty tasty chilled and fresh, and would certainly eat them in season.

Jackfruit seeds- Yes, commonly roasted sort of like chesnuts. Have not tried them but hear they're tasty.

Ugli fruit- I believe this is a natural hybrid originally found wild in Jamaica. I've tried them here in the US and they're pretty decent, at least when they're allowed to ripen properly (which is rare here in the US).

Would love to hear from some of the Indian members who perhaps ate obscure wild fruits as children.

AvidTrekker

Not obscure but I ate this Kokam fruit Garcinia in the wild last April...

Terribly sour. Could barely eat one in 30 minutes.

Westerners might not know much about it.
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mazha

It is called Kodampuli in Malayalam. The flesh is smoked and dried and added to fish curries, giving the distinctive Kerala fish curry taste. You can get it in most Indian stores.

A recipe

Gardener972

Very helpful... thank you!! Now to find them!

grikoo

Here's some more info on that one from wiki:

Bindin, Biran, Bhirand, Bhinda, Kokum, Katambi, Panarpuli, Ratamba or Amsol

The whole genus garcinia is currently undergoing a good deal of research, much of it geared towards alternative medicine and the commercial production of various acids.

The mangosteen is probably the best known and best tasting fruit in the genus.

brishti

sol kadhi!!! absolutely awesome 'drink' made from kokam.
fantastic summer drink.
personally, i prefer to drink it rather than have it with rice.



:brishti

AvidTrekker

Question to grikoo...

Morinda citrifolia a.k.a. "Noni" is in the news for its medicinal properties. Everyone is selling its juice. What is your observation about this....?

Some similar medicine is Garcinia cambogia. (spelling?)

Any info about it ??

Thanks in advance.
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AvidTrekker

Don't remind me of such things.... I will have to wait till t-o-m-o-r-r-o-w to get my lips on it

Some divine forms of torture we have devised here!!
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brishti

arre avid - you're a mumbaikar - sheesh - you should be having this every now and then janaab!!!


:brishti

grikoo

Sounds good....I'm surprised they don't make a sweetened drink out of it though. This is usually the standard for fruits that are too highly acid to eat fresh. That and jams/jellies.

brishti

sweeten the kokum??? euckh grikoo - its like putting lime juice in an apple pie [ hope its the correct analogy - i loathe apples ]
besides - the sour bit is about tasting the kokum in its original state, without any flavouring - which makes it so healthy.


:brishti

Aishah

And, Brishti, the only apples I can eat are those fresh from the tree - really crisp and tasty. Ones in Jaisalmer are mush - yuck! News in Times of India today re watermelons - evidently far more healthy for us than I suspected and also extra benefits for men too!!

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theyyamdancer

Aishah, I really miss the crisp apples you find in England (Cox's Orange Pippins, Granny Smith) - here we get the mushy kind.

On the subject of melons - I like to sprinkle Honeydew melon or Canteloupe melon with powdered ginger before eating - is this an Indian thing? I highly recommend it anyhow!