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বেল

বেল/Bael/Wwood apple

 

 

Fruit

The bael fruit has a smooth, woody shell with a green, gray, or yellow peel. It takes about 11 months to ripen on the tree and can reach the size of a large grapefruit or pomelo, and some are even larger. The shell is so hard it must be cracked with a hammer or machete. The fibrous yellow pulp is very aromatic. It has been described as tasting of marmalade and smelling of roses. Numerous hairy seeds are encapsulated in a slimy mucilage.

Uses

 

The fruit is eaten fresh or dried. If fresh, the juice is strained and sweetened to make a drink similar to lemonade. It can be made into sharbat (Hindi) or Bela pana (Oriya: ବେଲ ପଣା) or bel pana (Bengali: বেল পানা), a refreshing drink made of the pulp with water, sugar, and lime juice, mixed, left to stand a few hours, strained, and put on ice. One large bael fruit may yield five or six liters of sharbat.

Bili Tree

 

If the fruit is to be dried, it is usually sliced and sun-dried. The hard leathery slices are then simmered in water.

 

The leaves and small shoots are eaten as salad greens.

 

The Tamil Siddhars call the plant koovilam (கூவிளம்) and use the fragrant leaves for medicinal purposes, including dyspepsia and sinusitis. A confection called ilakam (இளகம்) is made of the fruit and used to treat tuberculosis and loss of appetite.[2] It is used in Ayurveda for many purposes, especially chronic constipation.

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Uploaded on May 24, 2012
Taken on April 3, 2012