Kokum: properties, benefits, how to eat

Kokum is a fruit similar to mangosteen rich in vitamin C. It has a regulatory action on bile production and a cardiotonic action, it is important for safeguarding the immune system, cardiac and hepatic functions. Let's find out better.

Description of the fruit

The genus Garcinia offers us several interesting fruit plants, among which the best known is the mangosteen. A close relative of the mangosteen is the kokum ( Garcinia indica ) whose fruit is used both as a food and as a medicine .

It is native to India but can be found as far as Laos; its consumption as food has until now been limited to Asia, while more recently some health and wellness products have begun to circulate also in Europe and America.

The appearance of the fruit is very similar to that of the mangosteen, although the taste is different and peculiar: an indescribable sweet-salty-acid which makes it an ideal ingredient for sweet and sour sauces.

Kokum, ally of

Sight, skin, immune system, heart, prostate.

Nutritional composition and kokum properties

The nutritional characteristics of kokum are the richness of vitamins (especially C) and dietary fiber and the lack of fat and calories. In the various popular and traditional medicines the kokum fruit and kokum-based products are considered anti- helmintic ideals , that is able to eliminate worm-like parasites, but it also has a regulatory action on bile production, a cardiotonic action, promotes cell regeneration. in case of burns and burns, it fights dysentery, is analgesic (with targeted action in case of rheumatoid pain) and astringent, and has nutritional factors that can help prevent heart attacks and tumors.

Like the other fruits of the Garcinia genus, it is an excellent source of hydroxycitric acid, important for safeguarding the immune system, cardiac and hepatic functions, and able to reduce appetite, so as to be ideal for slimming diets.

Even the official medicine has been interested in kokum, especially for the production of drugs based on garcinol, a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer and anti-ulcer actions.

Discover also the properties and use of mangosteen

Contraindications of kokum

The various active ingredients contained in the fruit of kokum can create side effects in allergic or hypersensitive people. The kokum, among other things, acts on the uterine muscles and is used to promote the menstrual cycle, therefore its consumption is not recommended for pregnant women .

Curiosity

Of all the fruits of the genus Garcinia, the kokum is the most rich of garcinol, besides being the type species from which the molecule was first isolated.
Kokum juice is used as a liquid to preserve food, just as we do with vinegar in the West.
The oil obtained from the fruit tends to solidify at room temperature and is used and marketed as a neutral base for cosmetics and is considered ideal for foot massages.

How to eat kokum

The mature kokum has a deep dark purple color with mauve streaks. At the time of purchase the fruit must not have any scratches or cracks on the exocarp. The skin is tender and opens with the pressure of the fingers, showing five or six sections of white and juicy pulp ready for easy consumption.

The skin of the kokum is left to dry in the sun and fragmented to be used as an acidifying ingredient in sauces and soups and to counterbalance the sweetness of some vegetables; this part of the fruit is not sweet but leaves a persistent metallic aftertaste in the mouth.

Kokum dried rind flour is also used to flavor cosmetic creams. Other derived products are kokum powder, concentrated kokum syrups.