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

Aishah

Cox's Orange!! Don't I miss those too - we had them as a staple in NZ. I was growing honeydew type melons in my garden (since I've been away nearly 3 and a half months now escaping the heat, don't know what state the garden will be in and whether they are still there and producing). Ginger sprinkled is a nice tip, thanks theyyamdancer.

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brishti

great to see you back on the forum aisha
this one's just for you



:brishti

grikoo

Here's some wiki links for the two. I've seen Noni growing wild in AP, but really don't know too much about it's properties. As far as I know there's nothing solid yet in the scientific literature about it. The garcinia you mention is used as a weight loss/ appetite supressant, which of course is one of the most marketable things in the western world, particularly in the US.

Noni

Garcinia cambogia

MrsC_772

Melon & ginger isn't purely an Indian thing. Powdered ginger on melon is OK, but if you can get stem ginger in syrup, that's even better.

The only apples I had in India in February were the nasty mushy sort. I was also rather disappointed by the flavourless chewy satsumas/clementines/other-small-orange-citrus-which-are-not oranges.

But you can get nasty mushy apples in England as well as nice crunchy ones. I think it depends on whether they're really fresh, or have been stored a long time, because I've had nasty cotton-woolly Coxes Orange Pippins, as well as tangy crunchy ones.

AvidTrekker

Thanks and WOW...

I might start taking Garcinia cambogia tablets

Thanks a million, grikoo !!


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grikoo

If you're looking for appetite supressants, the extract of Hoodia gordonii is probably the most interesting product out there at the moment.

Aishah

Thanks, Brishti! I'm still not back in Jaisalmer, still up in the mountains, so whilst I'm here daily, it's in short bursts... have to walk 15 mins. to broadband and return up quite a hill! All of which unfortunately increases the appetite so maybe I should start on these suppressants!!

theyyamdancer

Hello Grikoo! Please could you tell us more about that plant you just mentioned, namely Hoodia gordonii? Have you yourself tried it? Is this the latest gimmick or does it have a proven track record? Thanks.

AvidTrekker

Garcinia cambogia supposedly binds to some molecule which prevents the liver from producing (excess??) cholesterol in the first place. If this is achieved, appetite suppresor is not very much needed.

Thanks for your tips, much obliged.

I'll stand you a chai and snacks anytime we could meet.
(I don't drink alcoholic drinks)
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MrsC_772

I think hoodia comes from the Kalahari in southern Africa and was traditionally used by the San (bushmen) hunter-gatherers there. I think it's some sort of ugly little succulent, but grikoo will no doubt correct me.

Whether the hoodia pills advertised as appetite surpressants by internet pharmacy spammers bear any resemblance to the real thing is an entirely separate question.

grikoo

Yes, this is correct. The San have been using it for a long time.

It is indeed a succulent, but fairly large, and in the milkweed family. I've tried the fresh plant in the traditional way and it seems to work. Very nasty tasting though, like a bitter cucumber.

The chemical isolated- (3β,12β,14β)-3-[(O-6-Deoxy-3-O-methyl-β-D-
glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-O-2,6-dideoxy-3-O-methyl-
β-D-ribo-hexopyranosyl-(1→4)-2,6-dideoxy-3-O-
methyl-β-D-ribo-hexopyranosyl)oxy]-14-hydroxy-
12-(2E)-2-methyl-1-oxo-2-butenyloxy]pregn-
5-en-20-one

or more ubiquitously -P57, clinically determined to be an effective appetite supressant.

However, it seems early on in the commercial production of this plant, dietary supplements were being adulterated with large amounts of trichocereus spachianus, an exotic cacti now naturalized in parts of South Africa. Oddly, this cacti has CNS stimulant properties which might ironically have also been effective as a mild appetite suppressant. There are now HUGE plantations of Hoodia in southern africa, so this is less likely to be a problem these days.


There are several plants in this group that seem to have the same properties, and even one native to India- Caralluma fimbriata, which is widespread over the south and west of the country. It seems to just be starting to be available as a dietary supplement in the west.

skk

I'm looking for GREEN peanuts in India during my upcoming visit to India in late-Oct to mid-Dec., willing to travel in the Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP, Gujarat states to get them. They do exist - I ate some once !

Green Peanuts are RAW peanuts that have hardly been dried at all - the shell is so soft, that its almost, but not really, edible. The nut itself is very sweet and quite soft. In the US green peanuts are consumed really only in the Deep South - the rest of the country doesn't appreciate them so they are not available in supermarkets elsewhere in the country.

I first ate a green peanut at a really tender age - 5 or 6 or 7 on some school trip to the countryside near Pune or Gulbarga or Belgaum or Aurangabad, who knows - I do remember sticking my hand thru the fence and digging up a plant in a field and finding the peanuts. I was hooked !

For the past 20 years I've indulged my passion by proxy by getting them shipped from Virginia/North Carolina border and when that dried up, friends sent me food parcels from Augusta, GA or I've visited Florida or Georgia and last year drove down to New Mexico/ Texas border for them.

So you can see I care !

I've studied the groundnut crop in India by looking at this paper:
http://www.lanra.uga.edu/peanut/download/india.pdf
and supplemented it with my knowledge of the US crop from this paper:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AG194

I think I'm on safe ground in thinking I ought to be able to find some; there will be some maturing crop in India over the period I'm there. But I've learnt through my search for them in the US that local knowledge cannot be rivaled.

So where ( and when where, if you see what I mean) ?

-skk

Nick-H

My plan to have a home in Kerala has been ornamented by thoughts of home-grown chocolate, and home-grown vanilla.

Then I looked up what goes into getting chocolate, if you start off with a pod on a cocoa tree, and how to get vanilla, starting off with a cutting. The first is not so difficult, just long-winded and very messy; the second is very, very long-winded.

No wonder vanilla is expensive!

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Gardener972

Oooohhh!!! You mentioned the peanuts from Georgia... I didn't know they were GREEN! I first had boiled peanuts when I lived in Georgia (state of) in the 80's and that salty, mushy peanut flavor in one's mouth is delightful! Where would one obtain green peanuts?

hal2004

I saw and tasted these odd fruit in Vizag. They are about 2 feet long by a foot in diameter, brown and bumpy and they are broken up into yellow lumps which are bagged and sold.

The vendor called them something like "pariskayah"

What were they?