Poocha pazham, the forgotten medicinal fruit of our countryside: Know its health benefits

Poocha pazham is a creeper that once grew abundantly on Kerala hillsides, fields, and bushes. However, few people today are familiar with it. The older generation of the state may still recall picking gooseberries, karapazham, cherikattas, kottapazham, and poocha pazham along the roads while walking to and from school in their childhood. The fruit was also known by names such as mookattapazham, ammammapazham, madammapazham, kurangutheenipazham, and kurukanpazham. The plant produces flowers similar to those of the passion fruit. The gooseberry-sized fruits are green before ripening and turn yellowish-red when ripe. When you open the fruit, you will find black, greasy seeds. The fruit has a mixed sweet and sour taste just like the passion fruit, and both its leaves and fruits are hairy. The fruit is known for its medicinal properties and can cure many ailments. Experts claim that it has many proteins, minerals and folates too that benefit children. 

In the past, the fruit was added to sherbet served at temple festivals. Travellers also consumed this fruit to relieve fatigue and refresh themselves. Local healers used to prescribe a decoction of this fruit to women who had difficulty conceiving and sometimes used it for deworming children. We should preserve this medicinal fruit, which contains potassium, minerals, iron, and trace elements, and prevent it from disappearing from the land. If you wish to taste it, make sure the fruit is ripe and check with your doctor to ensure that you have no allergies or health conditions that will affect you adversely if you consume it.