Sesame (Sesamum indicum, तीळ, तिल) (Copy)

by Dr. Hema D. Sane

The spice is truly India ‘Ela’ means वेल a twinner in Malayalum. The fruits are produced on the trailing branches that sprout from the base of the aerial stems. दोडा  means fruit.

On drying fruits turn yellowish white. They are subglobose and beaked. The pericarp is papery fibrous and longitudinally wrinkled. The fruits are harvested before they ripe to avoid dehiscence; each fruit has three loculed each locule with a compact mass of seeds. Each seeds is reddish brown with a thin transparent membranous additional coat called “aril”.

The aroma is because of essential oil – cineole, terpinene, terpineol, limolene.

Uses: Powdered or whole seeds are used as ingredient in curry powders, pickles and sausages.

Cardamoms are chewed after meals. Seeds are also used for flavouring coffee.

As a medicine, cardamom are used as carminative as well as stimulant.

Seeds mostly enter in sweet meals specially those made from milk like बर्फी बासुंदी and श्रीखंड. It is normally accompanied with nutmeg powder.

बडी इलायची – Like smaller cardamom, there is another इलायची called बडी इलायची also called मसाला इलायची. Both these forms come from the same family but they belong to different genera.

बडी इलायची is Amomum subulatum. The plant is regularly cultivated. It is a perennial bush, that produces terminal clusters of flowers.

The fruits are of the larger size, about 2-3 cm long and about 2 cm broad with a terminal beak. The pericarp is highly fibrous black and fragrant. The seeds are of the large size shining black with an additional cover the membranous transparent aril.

The seeds and even dried pericarp are used as the ingredient of the curry powders, sauces, ketchup, chutney and pickles.