Sorry folks. I wanted to share with you so many things especially this festive season. But Alas! I had some problem with loading my pictures. So I just could not post any thing. Anyway now that I have got it settled(so I think) hopefully, here I am again......
I just wanted to share something with you all. This is unique to Andhra Pradesh, my State. Any guesses? I don't think you can guess it unless known to you earlier.
These are young palm shoots.
The palm fruit is black in colour with a thick outer shell. It contains three fruits which are soft fleshy and contain water. The tender fruits are available during summer. The soft flesh and the water inside are great sources to beat the hot Indian Summers. In fact the water of the fruit is of great help in cases of sunstroke. The fruit is nutritious too. Toddy is made out of these fruits by fermenting them. Palm jaggery is another product.
But once harvested from the tree, the fruits should be consumed as early as possible, or else they become very hard and don't digest easily. But once the fruit start maturing, they are left on the trees till fully done. Just before the rains, they are harvested and planted in the fields covered by the mud. By the time the rainy season is well advanced we have these shoots emerging from the fruits. These shoots are then separated from the seed and either steamed or roasted on coals or dry palm leaves and timber. I love the ones which are roasted than the ones which are steamed. These are very tasty.
Now here you can see them bundled and teid with dried palm leaf ready for marketing. These palm trees are found in many places of Andhra, but mainly in the coastal areas.
You can see the brown covering they have on them.
Here I have split one length wise. This how they look. The thin stick like thing known as Chandamama -the moon or Dongaadu -the thief , has to be removed from the shoots before eating. This is not edible. But why is this called as moon or thief I don't have any clue. Now the top portion near to roots is very tasty. This shoot is quite fibrous and a bit heavy on digestion.
But I just love them. Every year when the monsoon sets in after the dry summer spells, I think of these palm shoots and eagerly wait for them. As the winter sets in, these start arriving in the market.
They make a great snack and are healthy too being natural...
So do write your comments...
