Bail

Also known under other names: Aegle marmelos, stone apple (stone apple), limonia acidissima, feronia elephantum, feronia limonia, hesperethusa crenulata, elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit. It is very widespread in the countries of Southeast Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand).

This fruit grows on a tree and reaches 5-20 cm in diameter. The fruit is from gray-green (unripe) to yellow or brown (ripe) with a very dense rough skin resembling a walnut shell. The pulp of an unripe fruit is orange, divided into segments with white seeds. In a ripe fruit, the pulp is a porridge of brown color, sticky, it can taste sour or sweet.

The fruits of Bail are not so easy to meet in fruit markets in general. And even if you meet him, you yourself do not cope with him. The fact is that its peel is hard as a stone, and it is impossible to get to the pulp without a hammer or hatchet.

If you can’t try it fresh (which, in general, you shouldn’t worry about), you can buy tea from the Bael fruits, called Matoom tea. It consists of dried circles of orange-brown color, divided into several segments. It is believed that it is very effective in the treatment of gastrointestinal, colds, bronchial and asthmatic diseases. It is also used in cooking (tea, drinks, preserves, jams, salads) and cosmetology (soap, aromatic oil).

Ripening season is from November to December.