Carissa carandas: The fruit of Future – Also from North Western Ghats- Sahyadri

Welcome back again!! Thank you very much for response given to my first blog post! I am encouraged to post more and more…

Carissa Carandas (Karvand)

Today, we will learn about Carissa carandas, a wonderful drought-tolerant-suited for heavy rains & high moisture to low rains low moisture areas- variable soil and nutrient tolerant thorny shrub, bearing wonderful berries. This is an evergreen shrub or short stature tree which stars bearing white coloured sweet smelling flowers from January, developing in to small green berries, which taste very sour but delicious and starts becoming black…from may onwards indicating full ripped berries. These berries can be white or reddish inside after ripening. The taste is simply sweet and delicious. The beauty of the ripened berry, It's size and taste varies from plant to plant… so for us when we collect the berries in wild and consume there as well, we are not sure what  the level of taste and sweetness will be… that brings another factor of curiosity, making hunting for berries more excited and interesting.

This plant is found both wild and cultivated across a large geographic area. It grows naturally in the Himalayas and in the Western Ghats at elevations of 300 to 1800 meters. It grows in the wild in India, Malaysia, and South Africa.

In India, it grows in Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states. It is cultivated in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh. This shrub is commonly used for making a ledge  for orchards.

Carissa carandas fruit is a rich source of iron and contains a fair amount of Vitamin C.  The mature fruit contains a high quantity of pectin.  The unripe fruits are used for pickle, while semi or fully ripe berries are used for jam, jelly, pulp, syrup, chutney, and many other delicious side dishes. The ripe fruit is also consumed whole. The demand for the products produced from this fruit -whether unripe or ripe- is slowly growing in the market.

As explained, the fruit from each shrub may have a slightly different taste, so recipes will taste differently delicious with every bite as well, and yes, it’s amazing…

This plant is classified as follows:

Classification:

Kingdom: Plantae

Class: Angiosperms

Sub-class: Eudicots

Superorder: Asterids

Order: Gentianales

Family: Apocynaceae

Genus: Carissa

Species: Carandas

It is known by various names, including:

English: Karonda, Hindi: Karonda, Sanskrit: Karonda, Karmard, Tamil: Kalakai, Telgu: Vakkay, Peddakalavi, Malayalam: Karakka, Kannada: Karjige, Gujarati: Karamdaa, Marathi: Karvanda, Bengali: Karamcha.

This fruit also plays a crucial role in the life of tribal collectors who collects the berries in the wild and sell them either loose or to processors. This helps them in their efforts at survival. This fruit is ready to harvest in the months of May and June when life in the jungle is typically a bit harsh for jungle dwellers. Hence this plant brings a livelihood and income opportunity for hunter-gatherers. It also plays an important role in the survival of birds, bats and other grass eaters, thereby helping to sustain bio-diversity.

It is easy to find nutritional information about this fruit by visiting appropriate authentic websites, so I have not reproduced it here.

Apart from above-mentioned uses, this plant and plant parts are used for many traditional and Ayurvedic medicines. The common usages, as described in various ancient texts are for acidity, indigestion, fresh and infected wounds, skin diseases, urinary disorders, and diabetic ulcers, as well as for biliousness, stomach pain, constipation, anaemia, and skin conditions. The roots serve as a digestive aid, an anti-parasitic, used for itches, and also as an insect repellent.        

Older volumes, including “Indian Medicinal Plants” published by Kirtikar and Basu in the year 1918, about 102 years back, describes this plant and its usage. It makes for interesting reading. Even the ancient book on Ayurvedic medicines, Bhavprakash Nighantu in Sanskrit, describes this plant and its usefulness. 

This is described below.

करमर्दः सुषेणः स्यात्कृष्णपाकफलस्तथा |तस्माल्लघुफला या तु सा ज्ञेया करमर्दिका ||६८||

करमर्दद्वयं त्वाममम्लं गुरु तृषाहरम् | उष्णं रुचिकरं प्रोक्तं रक्तपित्तकफप्रदम् | तत्पक्वं मधुरं रुच्यं लघु पित्तसमीरजित् ||६९||

Karamardaḥ suṣēṇaḥ syātkr̥ṣṇapākaphalastathā | tasmāllaghuphalā yā tu sā jñēyā karamardikā ||68|| karamardadvayaṁ tvāmamamlaṁ guru tr̥ṣāharam | uṣṇaṁ rucikaraṁ prōktaṁ raktapittakaphapradam | tatpakvaṁ madhuraṁ rucyaṁ laghu pittasamīrajit ||69||

The meaning of the above is also very interesting:

The berry appears black when ripe; when it is unripe, it tastes bitter, a bit sour, and acidic, but it helps in quenching thirst.  And when the fruit ripens, it tastes sweet, delicious and quenches thirst, as well being useful in reducing acidity, cough … Tridoshas as described in Ayurveda...  

Such a wonderful fruit! If you wish to collect and consume in the wild, do visit Sahyadri mountains in March April for tasting the unripe ones and May-June for enjoying the ripe ones… My experience says, the best taste of ripe fruits is from 3rd week of May, when climate gets very hot, getting humid and waiting for rains. The delicacy of the fruit makes you feel comfortable, as if relieving tiredness due to scorching heat and humidity all around. The plants laden with ripened berries welcome us all, and even looking at the plant, adorned with this wonderful black berry is also eye-soothing.