Garlic

Scientific classification
Kingdom : Plantae
(unranked) : Angiosperms
(unranked) : Monocots
Order : Asparagales
Family : Alliaceae
Subfamily : Allioideae
Tribe : Allieae
Genus : Allium
Species : A. sativum
Binomial name : Allium sativum L.

Allium sativum L., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, the shallot, the leek and the chive. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking. A bulb of garlic, the most commonly used part of the plant, is divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. The cloves are used as seed, for consumption (raw or cooked), and for medicinal purposes. The leaves, stems (scape) and flowers (bulbils) on the head (spathe) are also edible and most often consumed while immature and still tender. The papery, protective layers of "skin" over various parts of the plant and the roots attached to the bulb are the only parts not considered palatable.

Garlic History
The word garlic comes from Old English garleac, meaning "spear leek." Dating back over 6,000 years, it is native to Central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent seasoning in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Egyptians worshipped garlic and placed clay models of garlic bulbs in the tomb of Tutankhamen. Garlic was so highly-prized, it was even used as currency. Folklore holds that garlic repelled vampires, protected against the Evil Eye, and warded off jealous nymphs said to terrorize pregnant women and engaged maidens. And let us not forget to mention the alleged aphrodisiacal powers of garlic which have been extolled through the ages.

Surprisingly, garlic was frowned upon by foodie snobs in the United States until the first quarter of the twentieth century, being found almost exclusively in ethnic dishes in working-class neighborhoods. But, by 1940, America had embraced garlic, finally recognizing its value as not only a minor seasoning, but as a major ingredient in recipes.

Quaint diner slang of the 1920's referred to garlic as Bronx vanilla, halitosis, and Italian perfume. Today, Americans alone consume more than 250 million pounds of garlic annually.

Side Effects
After eating a large quantity of garlic, a person will usually have halitosis. Their sweat and excreted oils will also smell like garlic. If an extremely large amount of garlic has been consumed, the person's mucus, vaginal discharge, dandruff, and even earwax will also smell like garlic. Washing the body with soap will not take away the scent, although perfumes will mask the scent. The smell usually fades over the course of several days.

Garlic and Health
Garlic has long been considered a medicinal food. It was used to protect against plague by monks in the Middle Ages. Hippocrates used garlic vapors to treat cervical cancer. Garlic poultices were placed on wounds during World War II as an inexpensive, and apparently quite effective replacement for antibiotics which were scarce during wartime.

Now science is beginning to prove the medicinal properties of garlic that our ancestors took for granted. Studies have shown garlic can suppress the growth of tumors, and is a potent antioxidant good for cardiovascular health.

Other studies show garlic can reduce LDLs or "bad" cholesterol and is a good blood-thinning agent to avoid blood clots which could potentially lead to heart attack or stroke.

All of this natural medicine comes at a cost of only 4 calories per clove.

Garlic's health benefits and medicinal properties have long been known. Garlic has long been considered a herbal "wonder drug", with a reputation in folklore for preventing everything from the common cold and flu to the Plague! It has been used extensively in herbal medicine (phytotherapy, sometimes spelt phitotherapy). Raw garlic is used by some to treat the symptoms of acne and there is some evidence that it can assist in managing high cholesterol levels. It can even be effective as a natural mosquito repellent.

In general, a stronger tasting clove of garlic has more sulphur content and hence more medicinal value it's likely to have. Some people have suggested that organically grown garlic tends towards a higher sulphur level and hence greater benefit to health. In my experience it certainly tastes better so I buy organic whenever possible whether or not it's best for my health.

Some people prefer to take garlic supplements. These pills and capsules have the advantage of avoiding garlic breath.

Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful natural antibiotic, albeit broad-spectrum rather than targeted. The body does not appear to build up resistance to the garlic, so its positive health benefits continue over time.

Healthy Antioxidant
Studies have shown that garlic - especially aged garlic - can have a powerful antioxidant effect. Antioxidants can help to protect the body against damaging "free radicals".

Uses
Culinary uses :-
Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor, as a seasoning or condiment. It is a fundamental component in many or most dishes of various regions including Eastern Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia, the Middle-East, Northern Africa, Southern Europe, and parts of South and Central America. The flavour varies in intensity and aroma with cooking methods. It is often paired with onion, tomato, or ginger. The parchment-like skin is much like the skin of an onion, and is typically removed before using in raw or cooked form. An alternative is to cut the top off the bulb, coat cloves of garlic by dribbling olive oil (or other oil based seasoning) over them and roast them in the oven. The garlic softens and can be extracted from the cloves by squeezing the (root) end of the bulb or individually by squeezing one end of the clove.

Oils are often flavored with garlic cloves. Commercially prepared oils are widely available, but when preparing garlic-infused oil at home, there is a risk of botulism if the product is not stored properly. To reduce this risk, the oil should be refrigerated and used within one week. Manufacturers add acids and/or other chemicals to eliminate the risk of botulism in their products.

In some cuisine, the young bulbs are pickled for 3–6 weeks in a mixture of sugar, salt and spices. In Eastern Europe the shoots are pickled and eaten as an appetizer.

Immature scapes are tender and edible. They are also known as "garlic spears", "stems", or "tops". Scapes generally have a milder taste than cloves. They are often used in stir frying or prepared like asparagus. Garlic leaves are a popular vegetable in many parts of Asia. The leaves are cut, cleaned and then stir-fried with eggs, meat, or vegetables.

Mixing garlic with eggs and olive oil produces aioli. Garlic, oil, and a chunky base produce skordalia. Blending garlic, almond, oil and soaked bread produces ajoblanco.

About 1/4 teaspoon of dried powdered garlic is equivalent to one fresh clove.

Medicinal use and health benefits :-
Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years, dating at least as far back as the time that the Egyptian pyramids were built. Garlic is claimed to help prevent heart disease including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer.

Animal studies, and some early investigational studies in humans, have suggested possible cardiovascular benefits of garlic. A Czech study found garlic supplementation reduced accumulation of cholesterol on vascular walls of animals. Another study had similar results, with garlic supplementation significantly reducing aortic plaque deposits of cholesterol-fed rabbits. Another study showed that supplementation with garlic extract inhibited vascular calcification in human patients with high blood cholesterol. The known vasodilative effect of garlic is possibly caused by catabolism of garlic-derived polysulfides to hydrogen sulfide in red blood cells, a reaction that is dependent on reduced thiols in or on the RBC membrane. Hydrogen sulfide is an endogenous cardioprotective vascular cell signaling molecule.

However, a randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States of America and published in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2007 found that the consumption of garlic in any form did not reduce blood cholesterol levels in patients with moderately high baseline cholesterol levels.

Storage
Domestically, garlic is stored warm (above 18 degree C or 64 degree F) and dry, to keep it dormant (so that it does not sprout). It is traditionally hung; softneck varieties are often braided in strands called "plaits" or grappes. Garlic is often kept in oil to produce flavoured oil, however the practice requires measures to be taken to prevent the garlic from spoiling. Untreated garlic kept in oil at room temperature can support the growth of deadly Clostridium botulinum. Peeled cloves may be stored in wine or vinegar in the refrigerator

Commercially, garlic is stored at -3 degree C, also dry.

Ref : http://homecooking.about.com , http://www.garlic-central.com , and http://en.wikipedia.org

Carambola or Star Fruit

Do you know " Star Fruit " ???

The shape of this fruit is so cute, like the star... " Carambola " is the other name of the star fruit. Carambola juice or star fruit juice is one of my drinking juice I love, but my mother like the fresh fruit. When I was young, my mother always did it for me... This fruit is one of Thai herb, we can use it for cosmetic because it contains Vitamin A, C, B1 and B2. In addition, we have it for scurvy because Vitamin C in it.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Oxalidales
Family: Oxalidaceae
Genus: Averrhoa
Species: A. carambola
Binomial name: Averrhoa carambola L.
Common Names: Carambola, Starfruit.

The carambola is a species of tree native to Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka and is popular throughout Southeast Asia, Trinidad, Malaysia and parts of East Asia. It is also grown throughout the tropics. Carambola is commercially grown in the United States in south Florida and Hawaii for its fruit, known as the starfruit. It is closely related to the bilimbi.

Growth Habit
The carambola is a slow-growing, short-trunked evergreen tree with a much-branched, bushy canopy that is broad and rounded. Mature trees seldom exceed 25-30 feet in height and 20-25 feet in spread. Trees are very unlikely to reach this size in California. In a spot to its liking carambolas make handsome ornamentals. Container grown plants are equally attractive and have the additional advantage of being movable.

Foliage
The spirally arranged, alternate leaves are 6 - 10 inches long, with 5 - 11 nearly opposite, ovate-oblong leaflets that are 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches in length. They are soft, medium-green, and smooth on the upper surface, faintly hairy and whitish on the underside. The leaflets are sensitive to light and more or less inclined to to fold together at night or when the tree is shaken or abruptly shocked.

Flowers
The fragrant, pink to lavender flowers are 3/8 inch in diameter, perfect, and borne in clusters in axils of leaves on young branches, or on older branches without leaves. There are several flushes of bloom throughout the year.

Fruit
Carambola fruits are ovate to ellipsoid, 2-1/2 to 5 inches (6 to 13 cm) in length, with 5 (rarely 4 or 6) prominent longitudinal ribs. Slices cut in cross-section are star shaped. The skin is thin, light to dark yellow and smooth with a waxy cuticle. The flesh is light yellow to yellow, translucent, crisp and very juicy, without fiber. The fruit has a more or less oxalic acid odor and the flavor ranges from very sour to mildly sweet. The so-called sweet types rarely have more than 4% sugar. There may be up to 12 flat, thin brown seeds 1/4 - 1/2 inch long or none at all. Seeds lose viability in a few days after removal from fruit.

Health risks
Individuals with kidney trouble should avoid consuming the fruit, because of the presence of oxalic acid. Juice made from carambola can be even more dangerous owing to its concentration of the acid. It can cause hiccups, vomiting, nausea, and mental confusion. Fatal outcomes after ingestion of star fruits have been described in uraemic patients. The treatment is daily dialysis until the toxins are cleared from the system.

Drug interactions
Like the grapefruit, star fruit is considered to be a potent inhibitor of seven cytochrome P450 isoforms. These enzymes are significant in the first pass elimination of many medicines, and thus the consumption of star fruit or its juice in combination with certain medications can significantly increase their effective dosage within the body. Research into grapefruit juice has identified a number of common medications affected, including statins which are commonly used to treat cardiovascular illness, benzodiazepines (a tranquilizer family including diazepam) as well as other medicines. These interactions can be fatal if an unfortunate confluence of genetic, pharmacological, and lifestyle factors results in, for instance, heart failure, as could occur from the co-ingestion of star fruit or star fruit juice with atorvastatin (Lipitor).

Ref : http://www.crfg.org, and http://en.wikipedia.org

Banana In Sweet Coconut Milk (Kluay Buad Chee) - Dessert

This menu is the wonderful dessert for me!!! It's very delicious & easy to cook. It's taste like a little bit sweet of coconut milk and a little bit of salt. It's creamy and sweet almost taste. My grandmother eat it with cooked rice, it's really good!!! Have you ever had it ???

Ingredients (1 serving)
- 2-3 bananas, cut ripe into 1 1/2 inc pieces
- coconut milk, 1/2 cup
- sugar, 1/4 cup
- salt, 1/2 tablespoons
- water, 1/4 cup

Directions :
1. Pour the coconut milk into a cooking pot, add the water, sugar, and salt.
2. Heat over low heat and stir constantly till sugar and salt melt.
3. Add add the bananas into the pot, stir gently about 5 minute, cook the bananas untill they are tender.
4. Serve hot or cold, Make servings.

Ref : http://www.nonburee.com

Sausage Salad with Banana Blossom (Yam Sai Grok Hua Plee)

Last time, I've let you know about how to cook for Banana Blossom - "Banana Blossom Spicy Salad (Yam Hua Plee)". But there are many varies cookings for these, "Sausage Salad with Banana Blossom" or "Yam Sai Grok Hua Plee" (in Thai) is one of them. Banana Blossom or Hua Plee is Thai herb that can heal "Peptic Ulcer" - do you remember ???

Hua Plee (in Thai), also called banana flowers and banana blossoms, these are in fact the tender hearts of unopened banana flowers, which have been stripped of their purple petals. They are available fresh in some Asian markets and also canned or dried. Fresh banana buds discolour rapidly once they are sliced or shredded, so should be brushed with lemon juice to prevent this. Banana buds are used in northern Thailand to make a tasty, squash soup. They are also a popular salad ingredient, tasting rather like artichokes.

Ingredients :
- Smoke Sausage (cocktail), sliced 100 grams
- Banana flower (Banana Blossom), sliced 1 scoop (Hand full)
- Shallots, sliced and fried, 1-2 tablespoons
- Crushed Peanuts, 2 tablespoons
- Boiled egg sliced, for topping garnish
- Chilli Paste - The type cooked in oil 2 Tablespoons
- Lemon Juice, 2 Tablespoons
- Fish Sauce, 2 Tablespoons
- Sugar, 2 Tablespoons
- Green Chilli - lightly crushed to full flavour, 2-3 chilli
- Chicken Soup Stock, 2 Tablespoons
- Coconut Milk, 2 Tablespoons

Directions :
1. Remove the hard parts of banana blossom, cut it into two pieces, rub in lemon juice, cut a spine out , slice and soak its flesh in lemon juice before cooking.
2. Put the sausages in boiling water and heat for 1-2 minutes, remove and let them dry.
3. Place and mix all ingredents in a mixing bowl. Add dressing and stir lightly.
4. Spoon the salad onto a plate, top with boiled egg sliced and shallots. Serve with the garnish (as pleasure).

Ref : http://www.ifood.tv, and http://www.simply-thai.com

Banana Blossom Spicy Salad (Yam Hua Plee)

Last week, I talked about banana. Most of it's parts can be used - including banana blossom. Banana Blossom or Hua Plee is Thai herb that can heal "Peptic Ulcer".

" Yam Hua Plee " is one of easy recipe that my grandmother always cook for me...

Banana Blossom - Thai name is " Hua Plee " - Also called banana flowers and banana blossoms, these are in fact the tender hearts of unopened banana flowers, which have been stripped of their purple petals. They are available fresh in some Asian markets and also canned or dried. Fresh banana buds discolour rapidly once they are sliced or shredded, so should be brushed with lemon juice to prevent this. Banana buds are used in northern Thailand to make a tasty, squash soup. They are also a popular salad ingredient, tasting rather like artichokes.

Ingredients :
- Banana blossom 1 each
- Pork, thin sliced and steamed 100 grams
- Peanuts, coarsely ground roasted 1/4 cup
- Coconut, grated and roasted 1/2 cup
- Garlic, sliced and fried 3 tablespoons
- Shallots, sliced and fried 2 tablespoons
- Fresh red chili pepper, finely shredded 1 each

Dressing Ingredients :
- Dried chilies, roasted and ground 2 each
- Garlic, roasted and ground 1 tablespoon
- Shallots, roasted and ground 2 tablespoons
- Palm sugar, 3 tablespoons
- Fish sauce, 3-4 tablespoons
- Tamarind juice, 1 cup

Dressing directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. Bring to boil on a medium heat, stir constantly until the texture is richer, and remove from the heat.

Directions:
1. Remove the hard parts of banana blossom, cut it into two pieces, rub in lemon juice, cut a spine out , slice and soak its flesh in lemon juice before cooking.
2. Place the sliced banana blossom and pork in a mixing bowl. Add dressing and stir lightly. Add roasted grated coconut, coarsely ground roasted peanuts, fried sliced shallots, and fried sliced garlic.
3. Spoon the salad onto a plate, top with fried sliced shallots and red chili peppers. Serve with cha-plu leaves and other garnish (as pleasure).

Correct Characteristics of Yam Hua Plee:
- Banana blossoms used for cooking this dish must be crisp and not dark in color.
- Yam Dip must be well mixed with banana blossom flesh.
- This dish must not be watery but taste mild.

Cooking Tips:
- Only fresh banana blossoms should be used, finely sliced, soaked in water mixed with lime juice, and placed in a strainer until water leftover is removed before being brought for cooking.
- Ingredients in Yam Dip must be finely ground. The dip must be cooked until rich.
- Fruits can be used in place of banana blossoms.

Eating Culture:
- Yam is one of major dishes in the main meal which fulfills nutritional value and promotes the taste of other dishes in the main course.
- It can be served either as the first course or with the main meal.

How to Serve:
Spoon the salad onto a plate, top with fried sliced shallots and red chili peppers. Serve with cha-plu leaves and other garnish (as pleasure). Serve either as the first course or with the main meal for eating with rice.

Ref : http://agriculturethai.wordpress.com, and http://www.horapa.com

Babana - Continued

Let's know more about Banana with me !!! (continued)

Properties and Useful :
Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple and red. Bananas can be eaten raw though some varieties are generally cooked first. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Unripe or green bananas and plantains are used for cooking various dishes such as banana pudding and are the staple starch of many tropical populations. Banana sap is extremely sticky and can be used as a practical adhesive. Sap can be obtained from the pseudostem, from the fruit peelings, or from the fruit flesh.

Most production for local sale is of green cooking bananas and plantains, as ripe dessert bananas are easily damaged while being transported to market. Even when transported only within their country of origin, ripe bananas suffer a high rate of damage and loss.

The commercial dessert cultivars most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics. They are popular in part because, being a non-seasonal crop, they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported from the tropics. The Cavendish gained popularity in the 1950s after the previously mass produced cultivar, Gros Michel, became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, a fungus which attacks the roots of the banana plant.

The most important properties making 'Cavendish' the main export banana are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars rarely have a superior flavor compared to the less widespread cultivars. Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination. These are special rooms made air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed", however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green. While these bananas will ripen more slowly, the flavor will be notably richer, and the banana peel can be allowed to reach a yellow/brown speckled phase, and yet retain a firm flesh inside. Thus, shelf life is somewhat extended. The flavor and texture of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 C (57 and 59 F) during transportation. At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will eventually turn gray as cell walls break down.

It should be noted that Musa ? paradisiaca is also the generic name for the common plantain, a coarser and starchier variant not to be confused with Musa acuminata or the Cavendish variety.

In addition to the fruit, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart) is used in Southeast Asian, Tamil, Bengali and Kerala (India) cuisine, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used in Bengali and Kerala cooking, and notably in the Burmese dish mohinga. Bananas fried with batter is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Banana fritters can be served with ice-cream as well. Bananas are also eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf in Burma where bunches of green bananas surrounding a green coconut in a tray form an important part of traditional offerings to the Buddha and the Nats. The juice extract prepared from the tender core is used to treat kidney stones.

The leaves of the banana plant are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are used many ways, including as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking or storage.

Banana chips are a snack produced from dehydrated or fried banana or plantain slices, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. Unlike other fruits, it is difficult to extract juice from bananas because when compressed a banana simply turns to pulp.

Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), the forerunner of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.

In India, juice is extracted from the corm and used as a home remedy for the treatment of jaundice, sometimes with the addition of honey.

Botany :
The banana plant is a pseudostem that grows to 6 to 7.6 metres (20-25 feet) tall, growing from a corm. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (9 ft) long and 60 cm (2 ft) wide. The banana plant is the largest of all herbaceous plants. A single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart is normally produced by each stem (though on rare occasions more can be produced - a single plant in the Philippines has five). Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Southeast Asia, steamed, in salads or eaten raw. The female flowers are produced further up the stem and produce the actual fruit without requiring fertilization.

A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition :
Banana - Fruit of the genus Musa; cultivated kinds are sterile hybrids, and so cannot be given species names. Dessert bananas have a high sugar content (17–19%) and are eaten raw; plantains (sometimes known as green bananas) have a higher starch and lower sugar content and are picked when too hard to be eaten raw.

One medium banana (100 g) is a good source of vitamin A; a source of vitamins B6 and C, and copper; contains 0.3 g of fat, of which 33% is saturated; provides 3 g of dietary fibre; supplies 86 kcal (360 kJ). The sodium content is low (1.2 mg/100 g) so bananas are used in low sodium diets.

Ref : http://www.encyclopedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org, and http://www.vandamme.be

Banana

Do you know "Babana" ??? This fruit well known as the useful plant in Thailand, it is called "Kuay". Every parts of it can be used; such as fruit - eat, the inner trunk of body - curry, leaves - wrapping and decoration etc. There are many kinds of Banana in my garden, these fruits are different in shape, size and flavor. The most banana I love is "Kuay Namwa" - in Thai. Let's know more about "Banana".

Banana - name for several species of the genus Musa and for the fruits these produce. The banana plant—one of the largest herbaceous plants—is said to be native to tropical Asia, but is now cultivated throughout the tropics. Used to a minor degree for its leaf fiber, the banana is of the same genus as the extremely valuable fiber plant Manila hemp , or abaca, and is also related to the bird-of-paradise flower . Along with the banana, these are economically the most important plants of the banana family (the Musaceae), a group of large monocotyledonous tropical herbs. The banana is of palmlike aspect and has very large leaves, the overlapping bases of which form the so-called false trunk. As the plant reaches maturity its true stem rises from the ground and pushes through the center of the false trunk to emerge from the top of the plant, there becoming pendent and bearing the male and female flowers. The female flowers develop into bananas, the clusters of upturned fruits being called "hands" and each banana a "finger." The plants are cut down to harvest the fruit, since they bear only once. Their seeds are sterile; shoots from the rhizomes are used for propagation. The banana fruit (botanically a berry) is a staple food in the tropics and is used in many forms, raw or cooked, and grown in many varieties, e.g., the plantain. Dried bananas are eaten as "banana figs" and inferior fruits serve as a stock feed. Banana oil is a synthetic product, so named because of its odor. Although the banana has long been cultivated in Asia—Alexander the Great encountered it in India—the large international traffic began only in the late 19th cent. with the development of refrigerated transport. Bananas are classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Liliopsida, order Zingiberales, family Musaceae.

History :
The banana is mentioned for the first time in history in buddhist texts 600 years BC. Alexander the Great discovers the taste of the banana in the Indian valleys in 327 BC . The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in the year 200 AD. In 650 AD, Islamic conquerors brought the banana back to Palestine. The Arabic merchants finally spread the bananas all over Africa.

Only in 1502 the Portuguese start the first banana plantation in the Caribbean and in central America.

Banana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. Bananas are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.

Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. As the bananas are mainly tall, upright, and fairly sturdy, they are often mistaken for trees, when the truth is the main or upright stem is called a pseudostem, literally meaning "fake stem", which for some species can obtain a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem can produce a bunch of yellow, green, or even red bananas before dying and being replaced by another pseudostem.

The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3-20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content. Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Both skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. Western cultures generally eat the inside raw and throw away the skin while some Asian cultures generally eat both the skin and inside cooked. Typically, the fruit has numerous strings (called 'phloem bundles') which run between the skin and inner part. Bananas are a valuable source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium.

Bananas are grown in at least 107 countries. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Bananas may also be cut and dried and eaten as a type of chip. Dried bananas are also ground into banana flour.

Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas. Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10-15% of all production is for export, with the United States and European Union being the dominant buyers.

The growing of the Banana :
The banana plant is ...not a tree, but a giant herb of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms. There are about 400 varieties of bananas. The rhizome is planted and gives a first shoot 3 or 4 weeks later. After 9 to 10 months the inflorescence from the foliated circlet has a diameter that can be as large as 7 meters. Three days after that, a bud hangs on the plant. On the fifth day, the bud turns red and starts opening. On the seventh day the leafs who covered it are falling down and finally two days later you can already see the first banana hands.The trunk of a banana plant is made of sheaths of overlapping leaves, tightly wrapped around each other like stalks in a celery bunch.

The word banana is derivated from the Arabic meaning 'finger'.

Each banana stem consists of 10 to 14 hands each of them carrying from 18 to 20 bananas.

The harvest starts when the banana is still green.

Bananas for domestic consumption are cut green.

Then the race starts against the clock. From the harvest through the delivery to the shop resailer, there are only 20 days left. The hands are removed, washed, cut in smaller pieces called clusters, packed in hygienical carton boxes, each of those boxes weighing 18 kg net (40 lb).

Transportation :
The transportation is done with specialized refrigerated ships . Bananas are loaded into refrigerated cargo vessels and shipped green at a controlled temperature of 14,5 C (58 F). Each ship contains 250.000 boxes of bananas collected the day before.

The crossing to Europe lasts about 11 days. The temperature is frequently controlled to avoid any premature ripening.

Ref : http://www.encyclopedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org, and http://www.vandamme.be

Plai (or Plai)

Today I will tell you about "Zingiber cassumunar Roxb.", well known as "Phlai" or "Plai" In Thailand. When I was young, after I played outside all day, my mother used the essential oil from Phlai or Plai to massage for me. In Thailand, this herb is very famous which is used for muscle relaxant, and relieve knee, muscle, joint pain such as Acute Gouty etc.

Plai, Zingiber cassumunar Roxb., which is synonymous with Zingiber purpureum Roscoe, has long been regarded by Thai massage therapists as one of those oils necessary to have in their kit to combat joint and muscle problems. Plai is of the same family as ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) but has different properties and more intense actions.

Native to Thailand, Indonesia and India, the pale amber oil is steam distilled from the fresh rhizome. It has a cool, green peppery aroma (not unlike Tea Tree) with a touch of bite. The main active chemical constituents of the oil are sabinene (27-34%), g-terpinene (6-8%), a-terpinene (4-5%), terpinen-4-ol (30-35%), and (E)-1-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)butadiene (DMPBD) (12-19%).

Zingiber cassumunar Roxb., commonly known as Plai, is a Thai herbal plant which has been exploited for medicinal purposes in Thailand and Southeast Asia for centuries. Plai has long been regarded by Thai massage therapists as one of those oils necessary to have in their kit to combat joint and muscle problems. The plant has been proven to be extremely useful for human health and thus developed into creams and massage oils for relieving muscle pain. Furthermore, it is well known that the essential oils from Plai have also been shown to cure acne, bruises, burnt skin, skin inflammation, muscle pain, insect bite, and asthmatic symptoms. They are even proven to cope with cough and respiratory symptoms as well. Plai extracts exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activities. A number of pure compounds isolated from the plants has been shown to possess anti-microbial, topical and oral anti-inflammatory, analgesic, smooth muscle relaxant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-oxidative activities. These therapeutic indications and the reported ethnomedical uses make Plai an attractive candidate for the development into cosmetics, spa and skin beautification products.

The uses of Plai as Antibiotics
Zingiber cassumunar Roxb. is a medicinal plant which contains volatile oils known for its effectiveness in anti-inflammatory activity. It is propagated vegetatively by rhizomes. However, rhizomes in storage are susceptible to pathogens causing limited supplies for high - quality rhizomes. The quality of volatile oil obtained from the rhizomes also varies with plant age. Therefore, a method which could produce pathogen - free plants of the same age with high-quality volatile oil would provide a substantial supply of volatile oil for pharmaceutical industries. This paper reports the use of micropropagation as an alternative method in producing large number of pathogen - free plants.

Antibiotics such as amoxicillin, neomycin, chloramphenicol, and cloxacillin were used as sterilizing agents for excised shoot tips. Shoot tips were then cultured on LS medium supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1 mgL-1 NAA in combination with 0, 1, 2, 4 mgL-1 BAP and 20 gL-1 sucrose.

The use of antibiotics as a sterilizing agent increased the survival rate of cultured shoot tips up to more than 10 percent compared to the control. Each shoot tip placed on LS medium supplemented with 4 mgL-1 BAP produce the average of 13 shoots within eight weeks. The controls did not grow well and did not produced many plantlets. Some shoots produced protocorm - like structures near the base of the shoot tips. These structures grew into plantlets after subsequent transfers. Root formation was readily when shoots were transferred to the same medium or to a medium with low concentration of NAA. Addition of activated charcoal to a medium without growth regulator enhanced root formation and plant growth as well. Plantlets of approximately 5 cm high were transferred to soil. Clones derived from tissue culture will be selected for high volatile oil content.

Considered analgesic, anti-neuralgic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitoxic, anti-viral, carminative, digestive, diuretic, febrifugal, laxative, rubefacient, stimulant, tonic and vermifuge, it has been used for aches and pains, asthma, catarrh, chronic colds, colic, constipation, diarrhoea, fevers, flatulence, heartburn, immune problems, inflammation, influenza, joint problems, muscle spasms, nausea, respiratory problems, sprains and strains, torn muscles and ligaments.

Praise for Plai
Plai, while being of the ginger family, does not possess the classic heat that is common to the rhizomes. It has a cooling action on inflamed areas, be they joints and muscles or kidneys and lungs. Clients in Vancouver, Canada, have found that using Plai for asthma, with either tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) or rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.), causes the attacks to diminish greatly in intensity. The types of asthma thus far targeted have been exercise and allergy induced. Although clients report that the aroma is a little overwhelming at first, even just smelling the blend causes the attack to reduce.

On inflamed joints, undiluted Plai has been found to ease pain for upwards of 18 hours, which is impressive when compared with other oils. On joints inflamed due to injury, Plai was best combined with oils such as black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) and lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) or neroli (Citrus aurantium L. ssp. amara L.), Himalayan cedarwood (Cedrus deodora G. Don. f.) and orange (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle). These combinations worked to take the swelling down, eased the pain and considerably speeded up the healing time. Used in a small rollette bottle, the 10% dilution in a vegetable oil is probably higher than that to which we are used in the UK. The oils were blended in equal parts.

For digestive upsets, Plai, together with black pepper, orange and tarragon, has been used to counter irritable bowel syndrome. This blend was applied across the abdomen and across the rectal tissue after each bowel movement or anytime there was any cramping or pain in the abdominal area. After three applications, all symptoms receded.

Ref : http://www.smj.ejnal.com, http://www.actahort.org, http://www.essentiallyoils.com, and http://www.whitelotusaromatics.com

Coconut

Today I think of Chicken Soup with Coconut Milk and Galangal (iIn my cuisines list, you can see it.). I should let you know more about "coconut milk", it's very important for milky soup. Have you ever known before? Let's come with me!!!

Every time you go to the Southern part of Thailand, you'll see the coconut trees beside the road or sea. The water inside the coconut fruit was very great, it's sweet and good flavour... It's really great... If you have a chance to try it, you should!!!

The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropical world, for decoration as well as for its many culinary and non-culinary uses; virtually every part of the coconut palm has some human uses.

For Uses
Nearly all parts of the coconut palm are useful, and the palms have a comparatively high yield, up to 75 fruits per year; it therefore has significant economic value. The name for the coconut palm in Sanskrit is kalpa vriksha, which translates as "the tree which provides all the necessities of life". In Malay, the coconut is known as pokok seribu guna, "the tree of a thousand uses". In the Philippines, the coconut is commonly given the title "Tree of Life". It its theorised that if you were to become stranded on a desert island populated by palm trees, you could survive purely on the tree and coconut alone, as the coconut provides all of the required natural properties for survival.

Coconut in market
Sold on a street at Guntur, India
Green Coconut Vendor in Delhi, India in Summer
A relatively young coconut which has been served in a hawker centre in Singapore with a straw with which to drink its coconut water. Uses of the various parts of the palm include:

Culinary :
- The white, fleshy part of the seed is edible and used fresh or dried in cooking.

- Sport fruits are also harvested, primarily in the Philippines, where they are known as macapuno. They are sold in jars as "gelatinous mutant coconut" cut into balls or strands.

- The cavity is filled with coconut water which contains sugar, fibre, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Coconut water provides an isotonic electrolyte balance, and is a highly nutritious food source. It is used as a refreshing drink throughout the humid tropics and is also used in isotonic sports drinks. It can also be used to make the gelatinous dessert nata de coco. Mature fruits have significantly less liquid than young immature coconuts; barring spoilage, coconut water is sterile until opened.

- Coconut milk is made by processing grated coconut with hot water or milk, which extracts the oil and aromatic compounds. It should not be confused with the coconut water discussed above, and has a fat content of approximately 17%. When refrigerated and left to set, coconut cream will rise to the top and separate out the milk. The milk is used to produce virgin coconut oil by controlled heating and removing the oil fraction. Virgin coconut oil is found superior to the oil extracted from copra for cosmetic purposes.

- The leftover fibre from coconut milk production is used as livestock feed.

- The smell of coconuts comes from the 6-pentyloxan-2-one molecule, known as delta-decalactone in the food and fragrance industry.

- The sap derived from incising the flower clusters of the coconut is fermented to produce palm wine, also known as "toddy" or, in the Philippines, tuba. The sap can also be reduced by boiling to create a sweet syrup or candy.

- Apical buds of adult plants are edible and are known as "palm-cabbage" or heart-of-palm. It is considered a rare delicacy, as the act of harvesting the bud kills the palm. Hearts of palm are eaten in salads, sometimes called "millionaire's salad".

- Ruku Raa is an extract from the young bud, a very rare type of nectar collected and used as morning break drink in the islands of Maldives reputed for its energetic power keeping the "raamen" (nectar collector) healthy and fit even over 80 and 90 years old. And by-products are sweet honey-like syrup and creamy sugar for desserts.

- Newly germinated coconuts contain an edible fluff of marshmallow-like consistency called coconut sprout, produced as the endosperm nourishes the developing embryo.

- In the Philippines, rice is wrapped in coco leaves for cooking and subsequent storage - these packets are called puso.

Non-culinary :
- Coconut water can be used as an intravenous fluid.

- Coir (the fibre from the husk of the coconut) is used in ropes, mats, brushes, caulking boats and as stuffing fibre; it is also used extensively in horticulture for making potting compost.

- Coconut oil can be rapidly processed and extracted as a fully organic product from fresh coconut flesh, and used in many ways including as a medicine and in cosmetics, or as a direct replacement for diesel fuel.

- Copra is the dried meat of the seed and, after further processing, is a source of low grade coconut oil.

- The leaves provide materials for baskets and roofing thatch.

- Palmwood comes from the trunk and is increasingly being used as an ecologically-sound substitute for endangered hardwoods. It has several applications, particularly in furniture and specialized construction (notably in Manila's Coconut Palace).

- Hawaiians hollowed the trunk to form drums, containers, or even small canoes.

- The husk and shells can be used for fuel and are a good source of charcoal.

- Dried half coconut shells with husks are used to buff floors. In the Philippines, it is known as "bunot", and in Jamaica it is simply called "coconut brush"

- In the Philippines, dried half shells are used as a music instrument in a folk dance called maglalatik, a traditional dance about the conflicts for coconut meat within the Spanish era

- Shirt buttons can be carved out of dried coconut shell. Coconut buttons are often used for Hawaiian Aloha shirts.

- The stiff leaflet midribs can be used to make cooking skewers, kindling arrows, or are bound into bundles, brooms and brushes.

- The roots are used as a dye, a mouthwash, and a medicine for dysentery. A frayed-out piece of root can also be used as a toothbrush.

- Half coconut shells are used in theatre, banged together to create the sound effect of a horse's hoofbeats. They were used in this way in the Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

- The leaves can be woven to create effective roofing materials, or reed mats.

- Half coconut shells may be deployed as an improvised bra, especially for comedic effect or theatrical purposes. They were used in this way in the 1970s UK sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum for example.

- Drained coconuts can be filled with gunpowder and used as Improvised explosive devices.

- In fairgrounds, a "coconut shy" is a popular target practice game, and coconuts are commonly given as prizes.

- A coconut can be hollowed out and used as a home for a rodent or small bird. Halved, drained coconuts can also be hung up as bird feeders, and after the flesh has gone, can be filled with fat in winter to attract tits.

- Fresh inner coconut husk can be rubbed on the lens of snorkelling goggles to prevent fogging during use.

- Dried coconut leaves can be burned to ash, which can be harvested for lime.

- Coconuts can be used as ammunition for homemade catapults.

- Dried half coconut shells are used as the bodies of musical instruments, including the Chinese yehu and banhu, and the Vietnamese ??n g?o.

- Coconut is also commonly used as a herbal remedy in Pakistan to treat bites from rats.

- The "branches" (leaf petioles) are strong and flexible enough to make a switch. The use of coconut branches in corporal punishment was revived in the Gilbertese community on Choiseul in the Solomon Islands in 2005.

- In World War II, coastwatcher scout Biuki Gasa was the first of two from the Solomon Islands to reach the shipwrecked, wounded, and exhausted crew of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 commanded by future U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Gasa suggested, for lack of paper, delivering by dugout canoe a message inscribed on a husked coconut shell. This coconut was later kept on the president's desk, and is now in the John F. Kennedy Library.

- Coconut trunks are used for building small bridges, preferred for their straightness, strength and salt resistance


Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org

Lime

In my kitchen, the most ingredient for me is "Lime". Because of I love sour taste recipes, this ingredient is very necessary for me... Tom Yam Kung (Sour soup), Som Tam (Papaya Salad), fried rice etc., lime juice is needed for these...

In addition, lime was used as herb. My mother and I take the lime juice with honey for the good excretory system.
Lime is a term referring to a number of different fruits (generally citruses), both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3-6 cm in diameter, generally containing sour pulp, and frequently associated with the lemon. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and beverages.

Varieties
The most commonly available commercial limes (or Limon) are the larger, greener Persian lime (Citrus latifolia) and the smaller, yellower Key lime (Citrus aurantifolia) (also known as the Mexican Lime). "Key lime" is an American retronym, as the original fruit known in English as a "lime" was Citrus latifolia, derived from the Persian name, limu (the fruit was introduced to Europe during the Crusades).

Other lime varieties include :
Mandarin lime (Citrus limonia)
Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix)
various Australian limes
Sweet lime (Citrus limetta)
Palestine sweet lime (Citrus limettioides)
and musk lime (X Citrofortunella mitis).

Uses

For Drinks:
Lime fruit, and particularly their juice, are used in beverages, such as limeade (akin to lemonade). Alcoholic beverages prepared with limes include cocktails such as gin and tonic, margarita, mojito, Caipirinha and Cuba libre, as well as many drinks that may be garnished with a thin slice of the fruit or corkscrew strip of the peel (twist). One customary consumption of tequila is in shots accompanied by lime wedges and salt. Beer is often served with limes in Mexico. Lime juice is the primary ingredient of Bonji Water, a popular drink in southern parts of Kerala, India. Lime juice is also used in some commercial soft drinks.

Lime juice is made into sirup and sauce and pies similar to lemon pie. "Key Lime Pie" is a famous dish of the Florida Keys and southern Florida, but today is largely made from the frozen concentrate of the 'Tahiti' lime.

Mexican limes are often made into jam, jelly and marmalade. In Malaya, they are preserved in sirup. They are also pickled by first making 4 incisions in the apex, covering the fruits with salt, and later preserving them in vinegar. Before serving, the pickled fruits may be fried in coconut oil and sugar and then they are eaten as appetizers.

For Cooking:
In cooking, lime is valued both for the acidity of its juice and the floral aroma of its zest. It is used in Key lime pie, a traditional Florida dessert, and is a very common ingredient in authentic Mexican, Southwestern United States and Thai dishes. It is also used for its pickling properties in ceviche. Additionally, the leaves of the Kaffir lime are used in southeast Asian cuisine. The use of dried limes as a flavouring is typical of Persian cuisine. Limes are also an essential element in Tamil cuisine.

For other uses:
Juice: In the West Indies, the juice has been used in the process of dyeing leather. On the island of St. Johns, a cosmetic manufacturer produces a bottled Lime Moisture Lotion as a skin-conditioner.

Peel: The dehydrated peel is fed to cattle. In India, the powdered dried peel and the sludge remaining after clarifying lime juice are employed for cleaning metal.

Peel oil: The hand-pressed peel oil is mainly utilized in the perfume industry.

Twigs: In tropical Africa, lime twigs are popular chewsticks.

Medicinal Uses:
Lime juice dispels the irritation and swelling of mosquito bites.

In Malaya, the juice is taken as a tonic and to relieve stomach ailments. Mixed with oil, it is given as a vermifuge. The pickled fruit, with other substances, is poulticed on the head to allay neuralgia. In India, the pickled fruit is eaten to relieve indigestion. The juice of the Mexican lime is regarded as an antiseptic, tonic, an antiscorbutic, an astringent, and as a diuretic in liver ailments, a digestive stimulant, a remedy for intestinal hemorrhage and hemorrhoids, heart palpitations, headache, convulsive cough, rheumatism, arthritis, falling hair, bad breath, and as a disinfectant for all kinds of ulcers when applied in a poultice.

The leaves are poulticed on skin diseases and on the abdomen of a new mother after childbirth. The leaves or an infusion of the crushed leaves may be applied to relieve headache. The leaf decoction is used as eye drops and to bathe a feverish patient; also as a mouth wash and gargle in cases of sore throat and thrush.

The root bark serves as a febrifuge, as does the seed kernel, ground and mixed with lime juice.

In addition, there are many purely superstitious uses of the lime in Malaya.

Plants known as "lime"
Australian limes
Australian desert lime (Citrus glauca)
Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica)
Australian round lime (Citrus australis)
Blood lime
Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) (a.k.a. kieffer lime; makrut, or magrood)
Key lime (Citrus aurantifolia) (a.k.a. Mexican, West Indian, or Bartender's lime)
Mandarin lime (Citrus limonia)
Musk lime (X Citrofortunella mitis)
Palestine sweet lime (Citrus limettioides)
Persian lime (Citrus x latifolia) (a.k.a. Tahiti or Bearss lime)
Spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus) (a.k.a. mamoncillo, mamn, ginep, quenepa, or limoncillo) (not a citrus)
Sweet lime (Citrus limetta) (a.k.a. sweet limetta, Mediterranean sweet lemon)
Wild lime (Adelia ricinella)
Limequat (lime kumquat)
Lime tree (Tilia sp.)

Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org, and http://www.hort.purdue.edu

Tamarind

The tamarind was used along with the lime juice for giving the tom yam goong soup and Som Tam (Papaya Salad) they're sour flavour. We can use it instead the lime juice for many receipe. In Thailand, tamarind's very famous for cooking - fresh fruits, dry fruits, and leaves.
There're 2 groups of Tamarind, sweet and sour tastes. The sour tamarid is used for cooking. Dry fruits was used for . In addition, young leaves of Tamarind are used for curry also. My mother usde it for sour curry soup with prawn.

Habitat
The tree is native to tropical Africa and is now naturalised and widely cultivated throughout India as well as other tropical countries, including the Caribbean, south east Asia and China, where it is found on roadsides and in gardens.

Parts used
Fruits, fruit pulp, seeds, leaves, flowers and bark

Food Uses
The food uses of the tamarind are many. The tender, immature, very sour pods are cooked as seasoning with rice, fish and meats in India. The fully-grown, but still unripe fruits, called "swells" in the Bahamas, are roasted in coals until they burst and the skin is then peeled back and the sizzling pulp dipped in wood ashes and eaten. The fully ripe, fresh fruit is relished out-of-hand by children and adults, alike. The dehydrated fruits are easily recognized when picking by their comparatively light weight, hollow sound when tapped and the cracking of the shell under gentle pressure. The shell lifts readily from the pulp and the lengthwise fibers are removed by holding the stem with one hand and slipping the pulp downward with the other. The pulp is made into a variety of products. It is an important ingredient in chutneys, curries and sauces, including some brands of Worcestershire and barbecue sauce, and in a special Indian seafood pickle called "tamarind fish". Sugared tamarind pulp is often prepared as a confection.

For this purpose, it is desirable to separate the pulp from the seeds without using water. If ripe, fresh, undehydrated tamarinds are available, this may be done by pressing the shelled and defibered fruits through a colander while adding powdered sugar to the point where the pulp no longer sticks to the fingers. The seeded pulp is then shaped into balls and coated with powdered sugar. If the tamarinds are dehydrated, it is less laborious to layer the shelled fruits with granulated sugar in a stone crock and bake in a moderately warm oven for about 4 hours until the sugar is melted, then the mass is rubbed through a sieve, mixed with sugar to a stiff paste, and formed into patties. This sweetmeat is commonly found on the market in Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. In Panama, the pulp may be sold in corn husks, palmleaf fiber baskets, or in plastic bags.

The fruits are eaten fresh and made into a refreshing drink and the pulp is an important ingredient of Thai and Indian cuisine. Fresh and dried fruits are used as a sour flavouring agent in curries, fish, chutneys and sauces. They are sweet and sour, cooling, carminative, digestive, laxative and antiscorbutic. The bark, leaves and seeds are astringent. The tender leaves and flowers are cooling and antibilious and are used in constipation, colic, cough, dyspepsia, fever, flatulence and urinary infection. The fruit pulp or the leaves may be used in the form of a poultice for external application to inflammatory swellings to relieve pain, and a poultice of the flowers is useful in inflammatory affections of the conjunctiva. The ripe pulp of the fruit is considered as an effective laxative in habitual constipation and enters into many Ayurvedic preparations, where it may be given for loss of appetite and nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. An infusion of the leaves is used as a gargle for aphthous ulcers and sore throats and for washing indolent ulcers. Guatemala the dried fruit is taken as a febrifuge, for urinary tract infections and infections of the skin and mucosa, including ringworm and other fungal diseases. The bark is used as a tonic and febrifuge and the ash obtained by heating it with salt in an earthen pot is mixed with water and taken orally for colic and as a gargle or mouth wash. In the Canary Islands the dried fruit is eaten as a choleretic. Tamarind seed xyloglucan (TSX) is used as a thickener, stabiliser, gelling agent and starch modifier for food, textile and toiletry use.

Young leaves and very young seedlings and flowers are cooked and eaten as greens and in curries in Thai and India. In Zimbabwe, the leaves are added to soup and the flowers are an ingredient in salads.

Food Value
Analyses of the pulp are many and varied. Roughly, they show the pulp to be rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron, thiamine and riboflavin and a good source of niacin. Ascorbic acid content is low except in the peel of young green fruits.

Other Uses
Fruit pulp: in West Africa, an infusion of the whole pods is added to the dye when coloring goat hides. The fruit pulp may be used as a fixative with turmeric or annatto in dyeing and has served to coagulate rubber latex. The pulp, mixed with sea water, cleans silver, copper and brass.

Leaves: The leaves are eaten by cattle and goats, and furnish fodder for silkworms–Anaphe sp. in India, Hypsoides vuilletii in West Africa. The fine silk is considered superior for embroidery.

Tamarind leaves and flowers are useful as mordants in dyeing. A yellow dye derived from the leaves colors wool red and turns indigo-dyed silk to green. Tamarind leaves in boiling water are employed to bleach the leaves of the buri palm (Corypha elata Roxb.) to prepare them for hat-making. The foliage is a common mulch for tobacco plantings.

Flowers: The flowers are rated as a good source of nectar for honeybees in South India. The honey is golden-yellow and slightly acid in flavor.

Seeds: The powder made from tamarind kernels has been adopted by the Indian textile industry as 300% more efficient and more economical than cornstarch for sizing and finishing cotton, jute and spun viscose, as well as having other technical advantages. It is commonly used for dressing homemade blankets. Other industrial uses include employment in color printing of textiles, paper sizing, leather treating, the manufacture of a structural plastic, a glue for wood, a stabilizer in bricks, a binder in sawdust briquettes, and a thickener in some explosives. It is exported to Japan, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Tamarind seeds yield an amber oil useful as an illuminant and as a varnish especially preferred for painting dolls and idols. The oil is said to be palatable and of culinary quality. The tannin-rich seedcoat (testa) is under investigation as having some utility as an adhesive for plywoods and in dyeing and tanning, though it is of inferior quality and gives a red hue to leather.

Medicinal Uses: Medicinal uses of the tamarind are uncountable. The pulp has been official in the British and American and most other pharmacopoeias and some 200,000 lbs (90,000 kg) of the shelled fruits have been annually imported into the United States for the drug trade, primarily from the Lesser Antilles and Mexico. The European supply has come largely from Calcutta, Egypt and the Greater Antilles. Tamarind preparations are universally recognized as refrigerants in fevers and as laxatives and carminatives. Alone, or in combination with lime juice, honey, milk,
dates, spices or camphor, the pulp is considered effective as a digestive, even for elephants, and as a remedy for biliousness and bile disorders, and as an antiscorbutic. In native practice, the pulp is applied on inflammations, is used in a gargle for sore throat and, mixed with salt, as a liniment for rheumatism. It is, further, administered to alleviate sunstroke, Datura poisoning, and alcoholic intoxication. In Southeast Asia, the fruit is prescribed to counteract the ill effects of overdoses of false chaulmoogra, Hydnocarpus anthelmintica Pierre, given in leprosy. The pulp is said to aid the restoration of sensation in cases of paralysis. In Colombia, an ointment made of tamarind pulp, butter, and other ingredients is used to rid domestic animals of vermin.

Tamarind leaves and flowers, dried or boiled, are used as poultices for swollen joints, sprains and boils. Lotions and extracts made from them are used in treating conjunctivitis, as antiseptics, as vermifuges, treatments for dysentery, jaundice, erysipelas and hemorrhoids and various other ailments. The fruit shells are burned and reduced to an alkaline ash which enters into medicinal formulas. The bark of the tree is regarded as an effective astringent, tonic and febrifuge. Fried with salt and pulverized to an ash, it is given as a remedy for indigestion and colic. A decoction is used in cases of gingivitis and asthma and eye inflammations; and lotions and poultices made from the bark are applied on open sores and caterpillar rashes. The powdered seeds are made into a paste for drawing boils and, with or without cumin seeds and palm sugar, are prescribed for chronic diarrhea and dysentery. The seedcoat, too, is astringent, and it, also, is specified for the latter disorders. An infusion of the roots is believed to have curative value in chest complaints and is an ingredient in prescriptions for leprosy.

The leaves and roots contain the glycosides: vitexin, isovitexin, orientin and isoorientin. The bark yields the alkaloid, hordenine.


Ref : http://www.divineremedies.com, and http://www.hort.purdue.edu

Black Pepper

Black Pepper Powder is the most famous for herbal seasoning in Thai Food. My mum use it in many recipes - it was used in fired rice, soft-boiled rice, noodle, curry, soup etc. For me, about 1 tea spoon of Black Pepper Powder I want for soft-boiled rice... It makes me feel good...

In addition, Thai people usd green fresh pepper for spice in curry.

Green pepper is the whole fresh berry that is frozen or preserved, while white pepper is the fully matured fruit from which the outer fleshy layers have been removed before drying and black pepper is the almost mature complete berry that is dried and separated from their stalks.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The same fruit is also used to produce white pepper, red/pink pepper, and green pepper. Black pepper is native to South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed.

Dried ground pepper is one of the most common spices in European cuisine and its descendants, having been known and prized since antiquity for both its flavour and its use as a medicine. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine. Ground black peppercorn, usually referred to simply as "pepper", may be found on nearly every dinner table in some parts of the world, often alongside table salt.

The word "pepper" is derived from the Sanskrit pippali, the word for long pepper via the Latin piper which was used by the Romans to refer both to pepper and long pepper, as the Romans erroneously believed that both of these spices were derived from the same plant. The English word for pepper is derived from the Old English pipor. The Latin word is also the source of German pfeffer, French poivre, Dutch peper, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chile peppers as well. "Pepper" was used in a figurative sense to mean "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep.

Varieties : Black and white peppercorns

Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe berries of the pepper plant. The berries are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. The heat ruptures cell walls in the fruit, speeding the work of browning enzymes during drying. The berries are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the fruit around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer, the result of a fungal reaction. Once dried, the fruits are called black peppercorns.

White pepper consists of the seed only, with the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by allowing fully ripe berries to soak in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the fruit softens and decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Alternative processes are used for removing the outer fruit from the seed, including removal of the outer layer from black pepper produced from unripe berries.

In the U.S., white pepper is often used in dishes like light-colored sauces or mashed potatoes, where ground black pepper would visibly stand out. There is disagreement regarding which is generally spicier. They do have differing flavors due to the presence of certain compounds in the outer fruit layer of the berry that are not found in the seed.

Pepper as a medicine

'There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!' Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing. — Alice in Wonderland (1865). Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper. Note the cook's pepper mill.Like all eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used.

Black peppercorns figure in remedies in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine in India. The 5th century Syriac Book of Medicines prescribes pepper (or perhaps long pepper) for such illnesses as constipation, diarrhea, earache, gangrene, heart disease, hernia, hoarseness, indigestion, insect bites, insomnia, joint pain, liver problems, lung disease, oral abscesses, sunburn, tooth decay, and toothaches. Various sources from the 5th century onward also recommend pepper to treat eye problems, often by applying salves or poultices made with pepper directly to the eye. There is no current medical evidence that any of these treatments has any benefit; pepper applied directly to the eye would be quite uncomfortable and possibly damaging.

Pepper has long been believed to cause sneezing; this is still believed true today. Some sources say that piperine, a substance present in black pepper, irritates the nostrils, causing the sneezing; some say that it is just the effect of the fine dust in ground pepper, and some say that pepper is not in fact a very effective sneeze-producer at all. Few if any controlled studies have been carried out to answer the question.

As a medicine, Pepper appears in the Buddhist monastic code, chapter five, as one of the few medicines allowed to be carried by a monk.

Pepper is eliminated from the diet of patients having abdominal surgery and ulcers because of its irritating effect upon the intestines, being replaced by what is referred to as a bland diet.

Pepper contains small amounts of safrole, a mildly carcinogenic compound.

It has been shown that piperine can dramatically increase absorption of selenium, vitamin B and beta-carotene as well as other nutrients.

Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org and http://www.ageless.co.z

Tumeric

In Thailand, Turmeric is used for healthy skin. My mother used the Tumeric powder for scrubbing and cooking - this is one of herbs in my garden... Turmeric is very famous in Thailand for many uses, let's come with me to know them...

Species: C. longa

Binomial name : Curcuma longa

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae which is native to tropical South Asia. It needs temperatures between 20 and 30 deg. C. and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive. Plants are gathered annually for their rhizomes, and re-seeded from some of those rhizomes in the following season.

It is also often misspelled (or pronounced) as tumeric. It is also known as kunyit (Indonesian and Malay) or haldi or pasupu in some Asian countries. In medieval Europe, turmeric became known as Indian Saffron, since it is widely used as an alternative to far more expensive saffron spice.

The Turmeric plant, though long used as an important coloring agent for curries and other foods, is also an important medicinal herb, used by both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine practitioners.

Known also by is Latin name curcuma longa or simply curcumin, the Turmeric plant is used to treat a number of medical disorders, including digestive disorders, liver problems, and skin diseases. It has also been proven effective in stimulating improvement in bile flow, making it very beneficial for people suffering for both digestive and gall bladder problems.

The plant is a relative of the Ginger plant, and grows to a height of 5 feet in tropical parts of southern Asia. The plant is characteristic in having a sharp, bitter taste. The Turmeric roots are dried and boiled to make the familiar yellow powder most commonly used in food preparations.

As a medical preparation, it is used for curing digestive disorders, helping to break down fats during the digestion process. It also has been proven useful for stomach problems ranging from gastritis to stomach problems caused by stress or alcohol. The Turmeric herb is also said to be very effective in treatment for inflammations caused by osteoarthritis and for helping to unclog arteries partially blocked by atherosclerosis. Its use in breaking down saturated facts in cholesterol is becoming well accepted. Turmeric's effectiveness against cancer and liver disease is being studied as well.

Besides the common yellow powder for cooking uses, Turmeric is also available in Turmeric capsules and as an extract. Though it can be used by virtually all ages of people, it must not be over ingested as various side effects can occur. These include stomach upsets and even ulcers. The herb's possible interaction with other herbs or drugs is also a problems; and amounts exceeding recommended doses should not be taken. It should not be taken by people suffering from gall stones or partial bile passage blockage without the approval of a qualified herbal medicine practitioner. Tumeric may also interact with drugs such as resprine; used to treat high blood pressure.

Uses as Food
Turmeric powder is used extensively in Indian cuisine.
Commercially packaged turmeric powderIn non-Indian recipes, turmeric is sometimes used as a coloring agent. It has found application in canned beverages, baked products, dairy products, ice cream, yogurt, yellow cakes orange juice, biscuits, popcorn-color, sweets, cake icings, cereals, sauces, gelatins, etc. It is a significant ingredient in most commercial curry powders.

Turmeric is used to protect food products from sunlight. The oleoresin is used for oil-containing products. The curcumin/polysorbate solution or curcumin powder dissolved in alcohol is used for water containing products. Over-coloring, such as in pickles, relishes and mustard, is sometimes used to compensate for fading.

In combination with annatto, turmeric has been used to color cheeses, yogurt, dry mixes, salad dressings, winter butter and margarine. Turmeric is also used to give a yellow color to some prepared mustards, canned chicken broths and other foods (often as a much cheaper replacement for saffron).

Turmeric is widely used as a spice in Indian and other South Asian cooking. Momos (Nepali meat dumplings), a traditional dish in South Asia, are spiced with turmeric.

Uses as Medicine
In Ayurvedic medicine, turmeric is thought to have many medicinal properties and many in India use it as a readily available antiseptic for cuts, burns and bruises.

It is taken in some Asian countries as a dietary supplement, which allegedly helps with stomach problems and other ailments. It is popular as a tea in Okinawa, Japan. It is currently being investigated for possible benefits in Alzheimer's disease, cancer and liver disorders.

Uses as Cosmetics
Turmeric is currently used in the formulation of some sunscreens. Turmeric paste is used by some Indian women to keep them free of superfluous hair. Turmeric paste is applied to bride and groom before marriage in some places of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, where it is believed turmeric gives glow to skin and keeps some harmful bacteria away from the body.

The Government of Thailand is funding a project to extract and isolate tetrahydrocurcuminoids(THC) from turmeric. THCs (not to be confused with tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC) are colorless compounds that might have antioxidant and skin-lightening properties and might be used to treat skin inflammations, making these compounds useful in cosmetics formulations.

Uses as Dye
Turmeric makes a poor fabric dye as it is not very lightfast (the degree to which a dye resists fading due to light exposure). However, turmeric is commonly used in Indian clothing, such as a chira.

Uses as Gardening
Turmeric can also be used to deter ants. The exact reasons why turmeric repels ants is unknown, but anecdotal evidence suggests it works.

Ref : http://www.organicindia.com and http://en.wikipedia.org