Western Ghats Kokum Foundation - Organic Farming Association of ...

An average kokum tree bears hundreds of fruits during summer. When they are
tender, they are green in color. As they ripen, they get the beautiful purple color. The fruits
are plucked when they are ripe. The outer purple skin and the inner seeds are sun-dried
separately. The skin, bhirnda sol, is used in cooking as a souring agent and the seeds are
used to make bhirndel tel (kokum oil/butter).
Our favorite way of enjoying the ripe fruit was to eat it with salt. Carefully take out
the tiny cap of the fruit, which would leave a hole on the surface. Then with the help of a
toothpick, push some salt crystals in the hole. Insert the toothpick in the hole and rotate it
few times to mix the salt with the seeds of the fruit. Now suck the juices through the hole.
Ahhh.. it’s heaven. Only those who have actually tasted this can understand the sheer
pleasure it gives. Once all the juices are done, break the skin into two and pop the seeds one
by one in the mouth. Discard the seeds. This was our favorite fruit to eat (only after mango)
during summer vacations.
The most popular dish prepared with fresh kokum is the Sol-kadi or Soul Curry. A
sweet, spicy and sour drink with mustard seasoning. As kokum has cooling effects on the
body, this is the perfect drink for hot summers.
Bottled/canned kokum syrup juice or agal is available in many shops in Goa which
acts as replacement for the fresh fruit to make the kadi. Another version that is very popular
is sol kadi, prepared with fresh coconut milk. Tetrapaks of kokum juice and carbonate
kokum soda is now readily available.
The skin of the fruit – which is normally sold as ‘kokum’ is sun dried in large
quantities to be used when the fresh kokum is not available.
Some salt crystals are added to the dried kokum, which acts as a preservative. As
days pass, the dark purple skin turns black. When soaked in water for some time, the skin
leaves beautiful purple color. This has many medicinal properties. The skin is soaked in
water for sometime and the purple colored water is given to the patients suffering from
‘pitta‘.
Sometimes the fruit is mixed with sugar and sun dried. The juice that comes out of it
is preserved to make kokum juice.
The seeds are sun dried to make kokum butter (bhirndel tel). The outer black shells
of the seeds are peeled and the inner white colored seeds are chopped and ground into fine
paste. Then they are cooked and dried to get the butter. The butter retains its solid shape at
room temperature. When needed, it is held near a flame to melt it. This melted oil is applied
to cracked heels and dried skin, which acts as a very effective moisturizer. Before we were
introduced to different moisturizer brands, we used this as a moisturizer. Even now, we use
it frequently for cracked heels.
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Resource Book on Kokum (Garcinia indica Choisy)
Western Ghats Kokum Foundation, Panaji - Goa