“Which is fairer, flower or leaf” asks Robert Frost in a poem musing upon a tree, comparing its leaves and flowers. Green leaves get superlatives for its nutritive value. We are encouraged by nutritionists and Popeye alike to chew on bunches of them for the sake of our heart, blood, muscles and what else. If you thought flowers merely decorate and scent our life through poojas, potpourris and bridal beds, think again!
For here is a posy of unlikely floral delicacies from Kerala:
Pumpkin flowers: These large, cheerfully yellow blooms are high in Vitamin A and providing more than 50 per cent of our daily need in just a single cup. They have considerable folate and iron content. In Kerala, pumpkin blossoms along with its tender stem are cut, wilted and seasoned with mustard seeds, curry leaves, jeera and coconut gratings to make “thoran”. The blossoms may be dipped whole in spiced besan batter, fried and served as fritters, or torn up and put in salads to add colour and appeal.
Drumstick flowers : These diminutive creamy white flowers of the Moringa tree are fragrant and tasty. Excellent sources of calcium and potassium, its juice increases lactation in nursing mothers. Its tea is used to clear a cold or flush out urinary infections. The blossoms can garnish any sweet dish or be sautéed along with its leaves.
Banana flowers: Common in South India and Sri Lanka, it is delicious when prepared with coconut gratings, jeera, green chillis and moong dal. A cup of raw banana flowers gives 60 per cent of our daily requirement of Vitamin C, 40 per cent of potassium, a fair deal of iron and an astounding 10 grams of fibre.
Hibiscus: Kerala can’t do without its chembarathi for beauty and health. They are ground into chutney, made into a thoran, turned into a fruit drink or eaten raw when a bud. A drink made from dried calyx of the flower is very popular as Karkade in the Middle Eastern countries while the rest of the world drinks it as hibiscus tea. Hibiscus tea is huge in iron reserves, Vitamins B1 and C. Western doctors acknowledge that 3 cups of hibiscus tea daily can reduce blood pressure (in mild and pre-hypertensive patients and type 2 diabetics with high blood pressure), which is comparable with certain antihypertensive medications.
Coconut flower: This looks not quite the flower one imagines. Yet, in rural Kerala kitchens, the tender sweet flowers are enjoyed raw, stir-fried as a side dish to rice or ground with rice and coconut sugar and cooked into gruel to give lactating moms. Coconut sugar made from sap of coconut inflorescences has a low Glycemic Index as against refined sugar.
(The writer is a nutritionist) .
