Sundaikai

The plant is usually 2 or 3 m in height and 2 cm in basal diameter, but may reach 5m in height and 8 cm in basal diameter. The shrub usually has a single stem at ground level, but it may branch on the lower stem. The stem bark is gray and nearly smooth with raised lenticels. The inner bark has a green layer over an ivory color. The plants examined by the author, growing on firm soil, had weak taproots and well-developed laterals. The roots are white. Foliage is confined to the growing twigs.

The twigs are gray-green and covered with starshaped hairs. The spines are short and slightly curved and vary from thick throughout the plant, including the leaf midrib, to entirely absent. The leaves are opposite or one per node, broadly ovate with the border entire or deeply lobed. The petioles are 1 to 6 cm long and the blades are 7 to 23 by 5 to 18 cm and covered with short hairs. The flowers are white, tubular with 5 pointed lobes, and grouped in corymbiform cymes. They are shed soon after opening.

The fruits are berries that grow in clusters of tiny green spheres that look like green peas. They become yellow when fully ripe. They are thin-fleshed and contain numerous flat, round, brown seeds.

                    

The green fresh fruits are edible and used in Thai cuisine, as an ingredient in certain Thai curries or raw in certain Thai chili pastes. They are also used in Lao cuisine and Jamaican cuisine. The fruits are incorporated into soups and sauces in the Côte d'Ivoire.

In Tamil Nadu, India, the fruit is consumed directly, or as cooked food like Sundaikkai Sambar, Sundaikkai Poriyal, Sundaikkai Pulikulambu. After soaking in curd and drying, the final product is fried in oil as Sundaikkai vattral, it is famous all around in Tamil Nadu. In siddha medicine one of the traditional systems of India Sundaivattral Choornam is used to improve digestion.

Turkey berry is composed of the following essential nutrients and minerals which are very helpful in preventing and curing the diseases.

Vitamin A, Iron (24.5 mg), Calcium (0.28 mg), Fat (1.7 mg), Fiber (56.9 mg)

We used to eat lot of sweets because they taste good and as a result they produce a lot of germs in our body. Once the bacteria and other germs formed in our body, it creates a lot of problems to us. These problems are prevented by eating Turkey Berry in the form of gravy. (In Tamil it is called as Sundakkai Vathal Kuzhambu).

If we eat the Turkey Berries for 4 days in a week in any form (dried or gravy), diabetes will come in to control.Frying the dried fruit using oil and then adding them to kuzhambu and eating them will help us avoid digestion problems

Consuming the Turkey Berries on the daily basis will strengthen the bones and nerves and also helps in the physical development of our body.

Gas problems are totally controlled if we take the Turkey Berries which is deep fried in the oil.

If the people who are affected with paralysis problem consume Turkey Berries, the disease will be cured.

All the teeth related problems are cured if we take the powdered Turkey Berry added with salt.

Read more at Wikipedia.

Recipe using Sundaikai see Here and Here.