Summer, the season of mango and watermelon, but no exaggeration, to enjoy the summer there should be Bael or Wood apple consumption.
Bael (Aegle marmelos L. Correa. Fam: Rutaceae) is a divine spiny tree found throughout in India. Its trifoliate leaves are traditionally offered to “Lord Shiva” as it resembles to his “Trinetra” and believed to soothe “The Shivalinga” due to its cooling properties.
Bael fruits have a lot of phytoconstituents, like phenolics, vitamins, mucilage, fibre and other nutrients. Consumption of fruit in summer could:
Keep GIT healthy and relieve digestive problems
Restore energy and relieve fatigue
Protect against sun stroke and soothes the body, as well as
Provide anti-oxidants and nutrition
Unripe fruit is very rich in tannins, have astringent property so, used for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery. As per Dhanvantri Nigantu, unripe fruit is Sangrahi, Agnidipak, Katu (pungent), Tikta (bitter), Kashaya (astringent) in taste, Uhsna Veerya, Tikshna and Kapha nashak (alleviates Kapha), hence used to treat Grahaniroga, Pravhika and Agnimandya as an ingredient of various Ayuvedic formulations, like Bilvapanchak kwath, Bilvadi leha and Bilvadi ghrita etc.
So, the fruit is a natural and nutritive soothing agent to beat the heat of summer.
Sapna Avinash Kondalkar