Nov 1, 2013

Gond Katira - Badham Pisin





















Botanical Name: Astragalus Gummifer
Common Name: Tragacanth Gum
Hindi: Gond katira
Tamil: Badham Pisin
German: Kutira Gummi
French: Gomme Adragante
Arabic: Katheera, Haloosiyaa
Bengali: Katila

Other Names:
Dragon gum
Quah
Gum Elect
Ela-imbue-Kini Hi Riya
Quattro Shiraz gum
Goat’s thorn
Locoweed

Description:
Astragalus gummifer (tragacanth, gum tragacanth milkvetch), is a small woody evergreen shrub, with a typical height and spread of 30 cm at maturity, indigenous to western Asia, specifically Iraq and Kurdistan. This nitrogen fixing plant bears hermaphroditic flowers, which are bee-pollinated. It has many medical, culinary, and material uses . Astragalus gummifer produces special exudate gums that act as a natural defense mechanism for the shrub. Research has shown the function of these gums to service plants of semiarid environments, released when the bark of the shrub gets damaged in order to cover the wound to prevent infection and dehydration. The gum originally an aqueous solution dries into hardened lumps when it comes into contact with air and sunlight.

It is mostly found in Mid East, Iraq, and Iran and even in western Asia. Iran produces an enormous quantity of Gond Katira. It is a tree gum just like any of myrrh but is less common in products than other gums, such as guar gum or gum arabic. The gum emanates naturally from the roots as well as from incisions made in the stem (below ground level down to 5 cm).This is collected and then dried to forms crystals of flakes. They may be formed into blocks as well.

You may get misapprehend that you have never eaten gum Tragacanth before, but the veracity is that you have taken it as an additive with E number as ‘E 413’in food industry. The plant is a member off abaca which is originally a pea family.

Properties And Applications Of Tragacanth Gum:
Gum tragacanth is a viscous water-soluble mixture of polysaccharides (thus including high protein). In the dry state, it does not stick to itself the same way other gums do. It is tasteless and odorless.

It is used as an Herbal Medicine in Ayurveda. It contains an alkaloid that serves as an herbal remedy for dreadful conditions such as diarrhea and cough. It is utilized as a paste in modern treatment for burns. It has been shown recently that it can suppress tumors and stimulate the immune system.

Mostly Gond katira is used in drinks, processed cheese, salad coverings, food dressings and different puddings being both tasty and having amazing cooling properties.

The beneficial Gond katira drink thus provides a sort of solace to our body. Also, in the field of foods, it works as stabilizer, texture additive and emulsifier. As a thickener in sauces, confections, salad coverings, ice cream, etc.

Tragacanth gum is also utilized in making a paste used in floral sugarcraft to produce life-like flowers on wires which are used as decorations for cakes. It also makes a paste which dries in the air (too brittle) and can apprehend colorings. So, it enables you to obtain the required fineness and delicate finishing your work.

Health Benefits Of Gond Katira:
Although Tragacanth gum has a very wide area of applications, it can be utilized as a thickening agent as well as a binder and even stabilizer and in industries like paper making, cosmetics, textile industry and so on but if there is something in it for which it is famous in masses are its numerous health comforts.

The advantages are pure and so worth noting. The only requirement is to keep patience while taking Ayurveda treatment as you will see remarkable changes with the passage of time.

• Heatstrokes
It behaves as a cooling agent inside the body and thus prevents us from heat stroke.

• Purgative
It is very advantageous in problems like constipation because it has the properties of purgative.

• Weakness In Men
It acts as an effective remedy for weakness and any sexual inadequacy in men.

• Small Breasts
Beneficial for women who want to increase their breast size as it does by daily dosage.

• Pregnant Women
Ladoos made of Gond Katira prove instrumental during pregnancy stage.

• Urinary Lewdness
It has fantastic results against Urinary incontinence or involuntary urination.

• Skin Burns
It has been used as a modern treatment for burn and applied in the form of a paste.

Health Benefits For Men:
Tragacanth Gum Herb Boost Vigour In Male:
Whether the issue is Early Discharge or Night Discharge or even Involuntary Discharge, Gond katira proves to be worthwhile in each case in men. The only advice is to take it daily.

Recipes For Remedy:
Pulverize equal amount of Badam, Jaiphal, Salai Guggul, Vidari, Kawanch (processed), and Tragacanth gum. Take 6 gm of the resulting powder with milk. Take half teaspoon powder of Chini, and a gram of Gond Katira with cold water, thrice a day for the first week, twice a day for the second week and once a day for the third week.
Take a cup of water. Dissolve 10 gm of Gond Katira in it; stir it in the morning to scatter it. Add a tablespoon of Misri and then gulp down.

Health Benefits For Women
For women, Gond Katira can be beneficial as it helps in increasing their breast size. Since the therapy is natural so no need to worry; the only requirement is patience.

Recipes For Remedy:
Soak 5 gram of Gond Katira in water and leave it overnight. In the morning, first, pour water for cleaning and then put Gond katira in a glass of milk. Add sugar as well as ice. Take it every day and see the amazing results.

Gond  Katira for both Summer and Winter:
Gond Katira has both cooling as well as heating effects. In summer, it turns out fluffy as well as soft after soaking in water.

So, before making any recipe in summer, soaking in water is mandatory as consuming it in mild form helps to produce the cooling effect in our body.

In winter, first, fry and grind it effectively. Then, it can be added to many of the desserts and other items. In this form, it generates heat in the body which is needed.

In winter, these laddoos prove worthwhile, especially for pregnant ladies.

How To Make Gond Laddoos:-
Ingredients:
Wheat flour- 250 gm / Ground sugar- 250 gm / Ghee – 175 gm / Mildly crushed Gond – 15 gm / Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp / Grounded cashews – 1tsp / Almonds – 1 tsp / Walnuts – 1 tsp.

Method:
First, heat ghee in a pan. You need to fry Gond on medium heat deep, stirring it constantly to ensure that every single piece gets fried. As soon as Gond fluffs up nearly to double pull it out of the ghee failure of which results in its burning. Keep it undisturbed for nearly 5 minutes. Grind it effectively. Fry the flour in rest of the ghee until it starts giving odor and becomes light brown (sandy). When ghee detaches from the flour, then it is sure that it is ready. Turn off the heat source at that point and add the ground material in the same. Do thorough mixing. Allow it to cool until it can be touched by hand. Then, make nutritious laddoos of any shape, any size. Keep laddoos aside for nearly 2 hrs. And finally, store them in a sealed container away from air.


Method Of Soaking for making Summer drinks:
Take two pieces of Gond katira and soak it overnight in a glass of water. See it in the morning. You will observe that it becomes fluffy, and there is an increase in the volume of Gond katira. Clean water wash(2-3 times) is required to remove the impurities. Now your Gond katira is ready to use in summers.

How to make Gond Katira drink:
Ingredients:-
Fluffed Gond katira – ½ tbsp/ Sugar – 1 tbsp/ Lemon juice – 1 tbsp / Water – 1 glass / Crushed ice as needed

Method:
Blend the above-written constituents and drink that daily.

How To Make Gond Katira Kheer:-
Ingredients:-
Fluffed Gond katira -1 tbsp / Milk – 500 ml (generally chilled) / Sugar (as per taste) / Almonds, Pista chopped – 2 tbsp / Green cardamom powder(a pinch) / Crushed ice as needed.

Method:
Boil the milk till it is reduced to almost 2/3 or as per your choice. Now take out sugar and cardamom powder from your kitchen’s wardrobe and add it to the boiled milk. Allow it to cool for some time. Add the fluffed Gond katira and almonds, Pista which are chopped earlier. Finally, insert the crushed ice and kheer is ready.


Side effects of Gond Katira:
As we all know, Ayurveda has answers to almost any problem. Each and every cure is done in a natural way and has proven efficacious. However, using Gond Katira can prove to be dangerous occasionally.


Many fellows of Astragalus Gummifer contain noxious glycosides. But there is a way out to this trouble. All species with edible seedpods can be renowned by their oval or fleshy round seed pod that resembles with a greengage. Moreover, when sprouted in the soil, some species that are rich in selenium can also assemble noxious levels of selenium. So proper care and cultivation techniques are beneficial in diverting the possible hazards associated with Gond Katira.

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