what are these things?

[mongo_jones]

as i've said before, our local indian grocery caters more to south indians than north indians. while shopping there today i noticed a number of things on the shelves that i did not recognize. this may be because they are south indian ingredients or i may just be ignorant. if anyone knows what these are and what they are used for please enlighten me:

kamar kas

hemij

jeth madh

ganthoda (i am tempted to make an awful pun with this one but desist)

there's a lot more there that i didn't recognize but i didn't have a pen and paper and these are the only ones i remember, possibly not accurately.

[Episure]

ganthoda

Maybe you heard it wrong it could be kanthol, a small round karela?(i am tempted to make an awful pun with this one but desist)

And Jesth Madh is something that goes into a Paan.

Edited April 30, 2004 by Episure (log)

[Pan]

Are these things translatable to an English dialect a non-Indian American might be able to understand?

[Gary Soup]

Isn't ganthoda a variety of (true) pepper? Spicy at that, I think.

[mongo_jones]

ganthoda

Maybe you heard it wrong it could be kanthol, a small round karela?(i am tempted to make an awful pun with this one but desist)

And Jesth Madh is something that goes into a Paan.

no, no ganthoda is what it said on the packet. gary may be onto something here--it did look like ground white pepper. or was it in pellet form? i'll have to check again next time. the store was swamped or else i would have just asked the manager--though she is the one who when asked the difference between the white and black kokum uttered the immortal words, "one is black and the other is white".

[rajsuman]

the store was swamped or else i would have just asked the manager--though she is the one who when asked the difference between the white and black kokum uttered the immortal words, "one is black and the other is white".

If only all store managers were as helpful as that.

Suman

[scott123]

Ganthoda and Himaj are both Ayurvedic herbs.

Ganthoda is a small brown root which is boiled with jaggery and taken by post pregnant women. It is also taken for warmth in the winter.

Himaj is unripened Haritaki, a brown, nut-like fruit. It is chewed for stomach and throat ailments.

[mongo_jones]

aha--do they have particular flavors? or are they not used for flavoring purposes at all?

[scott123]

aha--do they have particular flavors? or are they not used for flavoring purposes at all?

Himaj is described as being astringent and bitter. The ripened version, haritaki is ground with water into a paste or chewed with honey.

That's the extent of my knowledge in this regard.

If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say that neither of these herbs is that palatable by themselves - the addition of honey or jaggery helps the "medicine go down."

[scott123]

Here is a link to a product that includes kamar kas in an Ayurvedic mixture for treating sexual disorders:

http://www.kudosindia.com/super-speciality1.html

[anil]

Here is a link to a product that includes kamar kas in an Ayurvedic mixture for treating sexual disorders:

http://www.kudosindia.com/super-speciality1.html

Is this for real ? A herbal Viagra

[mongo_jones]

okay, so three of them are ayurvedic herbs and one is a paan masala (though i suppose the others might all go into paan as well)--wonder why the store has them mixed up with their regular spices in their display.

[Gary Soup]

Several spice dealers that Google brought up equate ganthoda to long pepper (piper longum). Some also call it "pipramul". Gernot Katzer's page on long pepper tells plenty about long pepper but doesn't mention use of the root. He doesn't include either "ganthoda" or "pipramul" as synonyms, either.

Gernot Katzer on Long Pepper

[scott123]

Several spice dealers that Google brought up equate ganthoda to long pepper (piper longum).  Some also call it "pipramul".  Gernot Katzer's page on long pepper tells plenty about long pepper but doesn't mention use of the root.  He doesn't include either "ganthoda" or "pipramul" as synonyms, either.

Gernot Katzer on Long Pepper

One of the books I was reading on Ayurvedic spices lists ganthoda as a root, but now that I look at the picture of dried long pepper, it's possible they might have been mistaken. The dried flower, when broken up into it's constituent berries, might resemble shriveled roots.

Ganthoda may very well be dried long pepper flower. If so, then it definitely has some culinary uses, especially for those interested in historical cuisine.

[scott123]

For anyone who is still interested, I finally went to the Indian grocer on a quest for long pepper. I found ganthoda. Ganthoda is not long pepper flower. It is indeed shriveled roots. Although it is possible ganthoda might be long pepper roots, it is most definitely not the spice obtained from the dried flower.

[Monica Bhide]

I have a fee ayurvedic books here but dont see these listed. Sorry