My way: Nungu Juice.

One could also eat them raw with skin-on, if it is immature and transparant.

Edile Jellies with fine skin-on.

Over-ripe Edible fruit…which could be also grilled.

Unripe fruits…which could possibly bear 2-4 jelly fruits in each one of them.

Nungu with Illaneer:

Borassus flabellifer is the Botanical name of Asian Palm tree/ Palmyra tree. The fruit looks in a jet black color…the hard shell. Although whole fruit is said edible by locals…..but it is greatly appreciated for its inner pulp(actually its endosperm and surrounding jelly )is called ‘Nungu’ in Tamil. The jelly fruit…is almost transparent to translucent. A fruit bears about 2-4 such jellies in them. If you happen to spot 4 in your fruit……consider yourself lucky! The icy jellies doesn’t have seeds like litchi(that’s good). It is also filled with nutri’ tasty water(endosperm liquid) loaded with minerals like calcium and phosphorous. The fruit is counted has simple man’s heaven during summer…..for the parched throat!

It is known as Tal in Bengali, Nungu in Tamil, Thaati Munjalu in Telugu, Munjal in Urdu, Tnaot by the Khmer, Akadiru by the East Timorese, Tao in Divehi, Tadfali or Tad-fali or Taadfali in Gujarati, and sometimes “Ice-apple” by the British. I like Ice-Apple better…it truly deserves that name!

Mommy used to make simple payasam kind of thing for my lazy brother….who can’t even peel the fine skin on the nungu! But I insist on consuming them raw…..in its natural form! People say….it has healing property towards, acne, boils and heat rash!

So…just peeled them and filled it with illaneer(tender coconut water).To beat the heat!!!

If you are smart to spot over ripe ‘panam pazham’ then you could put them on charcoal grill and burn them for few minutes and enjoy the fibrous fruit. I was kind of trekking on the local mountain(Vellore) with my maid cum cook Usha……we happen to spot a old palm tree…lucky we also spotted it had lots of over-ripe fruits! Used local help to fetch just one! Lucky me….that was the first time…I
happen to see this fruit. Looked much like mango color inside…..fibrous and fibrous to the core!