Bitter gourds (Momordica charantia)

Bitter gourds (Momordica charantia) is also known as Karela, bitter melon. The root, leaves and fruit from this plant are used as vegetables and in some medicinal uses. The plant is native from either China or India.

Preparing to serve as food
Slice bitter gourds into circles or lengthwise, and remove the seeds and pulp. Parboil them before cook, to remove the bitterness. They can be then stuffed, steamed, stir-fried, or pickled.

Special dishes using bitter gourds

• combine prepared gourds with black, fermented soy beans to use in curries.
• green leaves and young shoots are also edible after parboiling and stir-fried like greens.
• pickled bitter gourds can be used in making special chutney.

Medicinal uses

• Recent research suggests that, more than 22 medicinally active substances has been identified in bitter gourds, which are useful in treating diabetes as well as other diseases such as cancer, ulcer, hepatitis, measles, HIV and immune disorders.
  
• Bitter gourds contains Gurmarin, a polypeptide considered to be similar to bovine insulin, which has been shown in experimental studies to achieve a positive sugar regulating effect by suppressing the neural response to sweet taste stimuli.
  
• Diabetic patients can take the juice of bitter gourds. The seeds of bitter melon also can be added to food in a powdered form.
  
• The use of Bitter gourds during pregnancy is not recommended.

Indian Sarsaparilla (Hemidesmus indicus)

The plant Indian Sarsaparilla is grown for it's root. The extract taken from the roots are the natural coolant and has a lot of medicinal qualities.

This medicinal plant is native to South Asia. The plant is a slender, laticiferous, twining shrub. The leaves are opposite, short-petioled, elliptic-oblong to linear-lanceolate. The roots are woody and aromatic. The inner part of the roots are white in color and the outer part is brown in color. The root has a pleasant odour with astringent taste.

Indian Sarsaparilla roots are mainly used to make beverages. An extract is prepared from its roots by means of steam distillation. It is then mixed with sugar or (palm sugar), water and citric acid proportionately to evolve a concentrate drink. Sugar is added, since to remove the astringent taste from it. These mixture acts as diaphoretic and also used as demulcent to relieve body pain. It keeps the body cool. Besides, Indian Sarsaparilla root is diuretic, as it tones up the urinary system and helps in preventing stone formation. It also controls tonsillitis.

It is also a component of several medicinal preparations in Ayurveda and administered in the form of powder, infusion or decoction as syrup.

local name: nannari

[image: the roots of Indian Sarsaparilla plant]

Annona muricata (Soursop or Annasi)

Annona muricata (Soursop) fruits are shape oval or irregular, about 10 to 30 cm long and up to 15 cm in width, colored dark-green, and the color turns to yellowish-green when mature. Fully matured fruit will be soft to the touch.

The inner surface of the fully matured fruit is cream-colored and granular, can be separated easily from the mass of snow-white, fibrous, juicy segments—much like flakes of raw fish—surrounding the central, soft-pithy core. The edible pulp has the aroma somewhat pineapple-like, but its musky, subacid to acid flavor is unique. In each fertile segment there is a single oval, shiny, hard, black seed; but some segment may seedless. Generally a large fruit may contain a few dozen to 200 or more seeds.

Annona muricata trees are native to the Caribbean and Central America, and now are widely cultivated throughout the world.


Medicinal uses

The juice of the matured fruit is used as diuretic and a remedy for haematuria and urethritis.

The chewed leaves, mixed with saliva, are then applied to incisions after surgery, causing proud flesh to disappear without leaving a scar. The leaf decoction is lethal to bedbugs.

A decoction is taken from the pulverized immature fruits, are used as a dysentery remedy.

The roots of the tree are employed as a vermifuge and the root bark are used as an antidote for poisoning. The flowers are believed to alleviate catarrh.