Garcinia gummi-gutta
| Garcinia gummi-gutta | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Clusiaceae |
| Genus: | Garcinia |
| Species: | G. gummi-gutta |
| Binomial name | |
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Garcinia gummi-gutta (L.) Roxb. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Garcinia gummi-gutta is a tropicalspecies of Garcinia native to Indonesia. Common names include Garcinia cambogia (a former scientific name), as well as brindleberry,Malabar tamarind, and kudam puli (pot tamarind). This fruit looks like a small pumpkin and is green to pale yellow in color.
Although it has received considerable media attention purporting its effects on weight loss, there is liver toxicity associated with commercial preparations of the fruit extract with clinical evidence indicating it has no significant effect on weight loss.
Garcinia gummi-gutta is grown for its fruit in Southeast Asia, coastal Karnataka/Kerala, India, and west and central Africa. It thrives in most moist forests.
G. gummi-gutta is one of several closely related Garcinia species from the plant family Clusiaceae. With thin skin and deep vertical lobes, the fruit of G. gummi-gutta and related species range from about the size of an orange to that of a grapefruit; G. gummi-gutta looks more like a small yellowish, greenish, or sometimes reddish pumpkin. The color can vary considerably. When the rinds are dried and cured in preparation for storage and extraction, they are dark brown or black in color.
Along the west coast of South India, G. gummi-gutta is popularly termed "Malabar tamarind", and shares culinary uses with the tamarind (Tamarindus indica). The latter is a small and the former a quite large evergreen tree. G. gummi-gutta is also called goraka or, in some areas, simply kattcha puli (souring fruit). It is called uppage in Kannada language and fruits are collected and dried for selling to dealers in Sirsi, Karnataka.
G. gummi-gutta is used in cooking, including in the preparation of curries. The fruit rind and extracts of Garcinia species are called for in many traditional recipes, and various species of Garcinia are used similarly in food preparation in Assam (India), Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, and other Southeast Asian countries. In the Indian Ayurvedic medicine, "sour" flavors are said to activate digestion. The extract and rind of G. gummi-gutta is a curry condiment in India. It is an essential souring ingredient in the southern Thai variant of kaeng som, a sour curry.
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Wikipedia