Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Jamun Seed Powder ~ Diet for Diabetics!

I am sure as a kid you would remember eating this delicious fruit! For me, the memories were mostly on the lines of climbing the branches of a very huge tree in our friends house. And watching my friends climb up the tree while I wait eagerly down for my share of plum, juicy Nava Pazham. I wasn't big on climbing trees, so allowed myself just the share of playing the guard and share the bounty with them.

Somehow our memories of our wonderful childhood never leaves us right. Though after so many years, I could very well lay hands on even plumper and juicer Jamuns, those from memory refuses to pass. And every time I pop in one to enjoy those memories of a 7 yrs old comes back haunting! And to imagine those lovely ones are not only tasty but are so healthy makes it all the more dear.

As part of the diet for diabetics, Jamuns are one of the fruits that a diabetic can eat without hesitation. Not only are the fruit so healthy, the Jamun seed powder is very good for diabetes.

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"Jambul (Syzygium cumini) is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae native to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Indonesia. It is also known as Jamun, Nerale Hannu, Njaval, Jamblang, Jambolan, Black Plum, Damson Plum, Duhat Plum, Jambolan Plum, Java Plum or Portuguese Plum. "Malabar plum" may also refer to other species of Syzygium.

Jamun trees start flowering from March to April. The flowers of Jamun are fragrant and small, about 5 mm in diameter. The fruits develop by May or June and resemble large berries. The fruit is oblong, ovoid, starts green and turns pink to shining crimson black as it matures. A variant of the tree produces white coloured fruit. The fruit has a combination of sweet, mildly sour and astringent flavour and tends to colour the tongue purple. The seed is also used in various alternative healing systems like Ayurveda (to control diabetes, for example), Unani and Chinese medicine for digestive ailments. The leaves and bark are used for controlling blood pressure and gingivitis. Wine and vinegar are also made from the fruit. It has a high source in vitamin A and vitamin C." - Source Wiki

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Diabetics are advised to consume 1 tsp of this jamun seed powder in empty stomach early morning. Lets see how we can prepare this powder.

There are two ways of making this powder, one with drying in sun and the other without by dry roast the seeds.

Sun Dried Jamun Seeds Powder

Once you eat the fleshy part of the fruit, wash the seeds and dry in sun for a week. By then you will have really dry seed, whose outer skin will peel off and inside berry would be more like a pistachio.

You can pound the seeds along with the outer skin and make into a fine powder. Since this is sun dried, it becomes really hard and your mixer blades might go for a toss if you try to make a powder of it! So take caution to pound it into smaller pieces before running in the food processor or mixer.

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Once you have a fine powder, store it in a container and eat 1 tsp first thing in the morning on empty stomach.

Powder from wet seeds

The powder can also be made immediately after you wash off the flesh.

Heat a pan, and dry roast the seeds till they turn crispy. Pound them into fine powder and store for consumption.

The only difference I found in this method is, at times it becomes difficult to get it roasted well and dry.

Choice is your, but consume a teaspoon of Jamun powder for a better management of Diabetes!

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