Hello Aniruddh,
The recipes which we tried were all experimental not part of traditional Kerala cuisine but they came out well. It is possible to sun dry the fruits. We split the raw fruits (take the firm ones, not the squishy ones) into two and add red chilly powder, asafoetida powder, fenugreek (methi) powder and salt and keep it in the sun just as we do with raw mangoes.
As for the wine, it is again a very amateur attempt. This cannot be called a proper wine in the strict sense. We usually make it from gooseberries, so we tried substituting it with bilimbi fruits. For this whole fruits are used, one layer of fruit is overlaid with a layer of jaggery and so on till the bottle (we usually use what we call 'Bharani' which is a ceramic container which we use to store pickles traditionally) is filled. We also add a handful of powdered cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, half of which is spread at the bottom of the vessel and half at the
top after filling the layers of bilimbi and jaggery. The vessel is tightly closed and is kept for about 40-45 days preferably in a dark storeroom. The wine then can be strained and used. We also tried another little experiment, the residue of the fruits after straining the wine we sundried and it turned out to be a tasty sweet candy like kismis.
Thanks for your interest,
Regards,
Sandhya
Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:51889] averrhoa bilimbi flowers
Hello Sandhya,
Thanks for the info. I am the one who had photographed and sent it for identification. It is very rare tree in Mumbai and people are not aware of methods of consuming it.Madhuri Pejawar who had identified the tree , had written about pickle. Regarding , sun drying, I find it very watery to dry it. But since you have the experience , I ll attempt.
It would be interesting to know how you make wine from it in Kerala?
Regards,
Aniruddh
On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 8:47 PM, Sandhya Sasidharan
<haritha...@yahoo.com> wrote:
We make pickles from the fruits. The fruits can also be sun dried with chillies and salt as we do with raw mangoes. We have also tried making wine by fermenting it with jaggery which has come out quite well.
Regards,
Sandhya