Kokum: The Versatile Fruit

- October 30, 2023


By Shakthi Bharathi

According to Ayurveda, there are six tastes known as the ‘rasas’. Each rasa plays its own role in boosting health and influencing the taster’s mood. Thus, the perfect meal has to contain all six rasas: salty, sweet, pungent, sour, bitter, and astringent.  

‘Sour’ is a combination of the first three—it has the brightness of sugar, the tang of salt, and the intensity of spice. Be it the tamarind that lends richness to sambhar or the mango pickle that completes a thali, the fourth rasa is irreplaceable. Souring agents like vinegar also aid in fermentation and preservation, extending the shelf life of many foods.

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kokum
Kokum in the style of Kaavi—practised in the Konkan region (Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra); Illustration: Anjali Narendra
Kokum

Kokum trees are native to the Western Ghats of India, rarely straying afar. As such, the clusters of purple fruit dangling from their branches do not have an English name. Bite into a Kokum fruit and the tart explosion of flavour will taste like berries. Versatile, they can be at home in the sweetest of sherbets and the spiciest of curries.

Did you know? 

Kokum butter, extracted from the seeds of the fruit, is used not only in cooking but across cosmetic products like moisturisers, lipsticks, and face creams. 

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Comic of The Month

The Sons of Rama

The story of Rama and Sita was first set down by the sage Valmiki in his epic poem 'Ramayana.' Rama was the eldest son of Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, who had three wives - Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Rama was the son of Kaushalya, Bharata of Kaikeyi and Laxmana and Shatrughna of Sumitra. The four princes grew up to be brave and valiant. Rama won the hand of Sita, the daughter of King Janaka. Dasharatha wanted to crown Rama as the king but Kaikeyi objected. Using boons granted to her by Dasharatha earlier, she had Rama banished to the forest. Sita and Laxmana decided to follow Rama. While in the forest, a Rakshasi, Shoorpanakha, accosted Laxmana but had her nose cut off by him. In revenge, her brother Ravana, king of Lanka, carried Sita away. Rama and Laxmana set out to look for her and with the help of an army of monkeys, defeated Ravana. On returning Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, Rama banished Sita because of the suspicions of his subjects. In the ashrama of sage Valmiki, she gave birth to her twin sons, Luv and Kush.

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