Bael

Bael (Aegle marmelos) is a fruit-bearing tree indigenous to dry forests on hills and plains of central and southern India, southern Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. It is cultivated throughout India, as well as in Sri Lanka, northern Malaya, Java and in the Philippines. It is also popularly known as Bilva, Bilwa, Bel, Kuvalam, Koovalam, Madtoum, or Beli fruit, Bengal quince, stone apple, and wood apple. The tree, which is the only species in the genus Aegle, grows up to 18 meters tall and bears thorns and fragrant flowers. It has a woody-skinned, smooth fruit 5-15 cm in diameter. The skin of some forms of the fruit is so hard it must be cracked open with a hammer. It has numerous seeds, which are densely covered with fibrous hairs and are embedded in a thick, gluey, aromatic pulp.

The fruit is eaten fresh or dried. If fresh, the juice is strained and sweetened to make a drink similar to lemonade, and is also used in making sharbat, a refreshing drink where the pulp is mixed with tamarind. If the fruit is to be dried, it is usually sliced first and left to dry by the heat of the sun. The hard leathery slices are then placed in a pan with several litres of water which is then boiled and simmered. As for other parts of the plant, the leaves and small shoots are eaten as salad greens. The fruit is also used in religious rituals and as a ayurvedic remedy for such ailments as diarrhea, dysentery, intestinal parasites, dryness of the eyes, and the common cold. It is a very powerful antidote for chronic constipation.

In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is said to live under the Bael tree. In India, the tree is often found in temple gardens and its leaves are used in religious celebrations.

In the traditional culture of Nepal, the Bael tree is part of an important fertility ritual for girls known as the Bel baha.

This tree is a larval foodplant for the following two Indian Swallowtail butterflies, the Lime Butterfly Papilio demoleus and the Common Mormon Papilio polytes.

Benefits of Bael
1. The ripe bael is aromatic, astringent which helps construction of skin, coolant and laxative(cleans and tones up intestines).
2. The Bael Fruit helps in Struggles Against Diabetes, Bowel Disorders and Viral Infections. It has the ability to heal small ulcers inside the bowel which are produced by infection or inflammation.
3. The leaf juice, mixed in warm water with a little pepper, is give as a drink to bring relief from wheezing and respiratory spasm.
4. The fruit is a very effective remedy against stomach and bowel problems and is used to treat dysentery, diarrhoea, indigestion, and bowel infections in general.

Uses of Bael
- Bael leaves are extremely useful for treating Diabetes, jaundice, cholera and asthma. Bael leaves are made into a poultice and used in the treatments of ophthalmia. Bael Leaf poultice is applied to inflammations - with black pepper for edema, constipation, and jaundice - with water or honey it is good for catarrh and fever.
- Bael roots are sweet which cures fevers caused by tridosho, stop pain in the abdomen, the palpitation of the heart, poverty of seminal fluid and all types of urinary troubles and melancholia. Bael roots and the bark of the Bael tree are used in the treatment of fever by making a decoction of them. They are also useful in the disorders of vata, pitta and kapha.
- Bael fruits are valuable for its rich nutritive, sweet, aromatic mucilage and pectin contents – very good for all kinds of stomach disorders. Bael Fruits are very useful in chronic diarrhea and dysentery, particularly in the case of patients having diarrhea, alternating with the spells of constipation. Sweet drink (sherbet) prepared from the pulp of the Bael fruits produce a soothing effect on the patients who have just recovered from bacillary dysentery.

The pulp from unripe Bael fruits are soaked in gingelly oil for a week and this oil is smeared over the body before bathing. The unripe and half-ripe fruits improve appetite and digestion (Jain, 1968; Jauhari, 1969). As per Indian Ayurvedic concept this oil is said to be useful in removing the peculiar burning sensation in the soles. Rind is used for acute and amoebic dysentery, griping pain in the loins and constipation, gas, and colic, sprue, scurvy.

Peoples in South India use the juice of bael leaves to get relief from wheezing and respiratory spasm. The leaf juice is mixed in warm water with a little pepper and given as a drink.

Medicinal Uses
The fresh ripe pulp of the higher quality cultivars, and the "sherbet" made from it, are taken for their mild laxative, tonic and digestive effects. A decoction of the unripe fruit, with fennel and ginger, is prescribed in cases of hemorrhoids. It has been surmised that the psoralen in the pulp increases tolerance of sunlight and aids in the maintaining of normal skin color. It is employed in the treatment of leucoderma. Marmelosin derived from the pulp is given as a laxative and diuretic. In large doses, it lowers the rate of respiration, depresses heart action and causes sleepiness.

For medicinal use, the young fruits, while still tender, are commonly sliced horizontally and sun-dried and sold in local markets. They are much exported to Malaya and Europe. Because of the astringency, especially of the wild fruits, the unripe bael is most prized as a means of halting diarrhea and dysentery, which are prevalent in India in the summer months. Bael fruit was resorted to by the Portuguese in the East Indies in the 1500's and by the British colonials in later times.

A bitter, light-yellow oil extracted from the seeds is given in 1.5 g doses as a purgative. It contains 15.6% palmitic acid, 8.3% stearic acid, 28.7% linoleic and 7.6% linolenic acid. The seed residue contains 70% protein.

The bitter, pungent leaf juice, mixed with honey, is given to allay catarrh and fever. With black pepper added, it is taken to relieve jaundice and constipation accompanied by edema. The leaf decoction is said to alleviate asthma. A hot poultice of the leaves is considered an effective treatment for ophthahnia and various inflammations, also febrile delirium and acute bronchitis.

A decoction of the flowers is used as eye lotion and given as an antiemetic. The bark contains tannin and the cournarin, aegelinol; also the furocourmarin, marmesin; umbelliferone, a hydroxy coumarin; and the alkaloids, fagarine and skimmianine. The bark decoction is administered in cases of malaria. Decoctions of the root are taken to relieve palpitations of the heart, indigestion, and bowel inflammations; also to overcome vomiting.

The fruit, roots and leaves have antibiotic activity. The root, leaves and bark are used in treating snakebite. Chemical studies have revealed the following properties in the roots: psoralen, xanthotoxin, O-methylscopoletin, scopoletin, tembamide, and skimmin; also decursinol, haplopine and aegelinol, in the root bark.

Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bael , http://food.sify.com , http://www.sssbiotic.com , and http://www.hort.purdue.edu