Japani phal (Japanese fruit persimmon)

Japanese fruit (japani phal)

Japanese fruit (japani phal)(persimmon), indigenous flavor This fruit brought to India by the British made the people of the country convinced of its taste. Due to the lack of technology, its large scale production in India is still a big challenge.

Japani phal (Japanese fruit)

One evening while walking , I reached Bazar. Feeling a little hungry, I headed towards a nearby fruit shop. The intention was to buy apples or guavas and eat them. But on reaching the shop, I saw a different kind of yellow colored fruit. On asking the shopkeeper, he told that its name is Japanese fruit(japani phal).I thought it appropriate to go for Japanese fruit flavors instead of apple or guava.

Japanese fruit (persimmon in English)

The Japanese fruit is called persimmon in English and its botanical name is Diospyros kaki. There are about 400 species of it available worldwide. However, two of its species popular. According to Susanna Lyle's book Fruits and Nuts, published in 2006, it originated in East Asia, especially South China. The year 1780 According to a research published in the journal Nova Acta Regia Societitis Scientiarum Upsaliensis, the Japanese fruit has been grown in China for more than 2000 years.

Japanese fruit trees height

Japanese fruit trees grow up to (15 to 60 ft) feet tall, just like apple trees. Its leaves are dark green and hard. In October and November all the leaves fall from the tree and this is the time for the ripening of the fruit on the tree. The tree Diospyros kaki is the most widely cultivated species of persimmon. Typically the tree reaches 4.5 to 18 metres (15 to 60 ft) in height and is round-topped. It usually stands erect, but sometimes can be crooked or have a willowy appearance.

Japanese fruit is production

The Japanese fruit is produced extensively in Japan, China and Korea. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China ranked first with a production of 3.8 million tonnes in 2014. Korea and Japan ranked second and third respectively with production of 4.5 million tonnes and 2.5 million tonnes.

Japanese fruit plants

According to the book Temperate Horticulture, Japanese fruit plants were brought to India by Europeans in 1921. In the year 1941, the farmers of Shimla planted apple plants as well as Japanese fruit plants in their orchards. According to an estimate by the Indian Horticulture Department, about 10,000 farmers in Himachal Pradesh grow Japanese fruits on about 397 hectares of land.

The Japanese fruit is known as Tendu in North India. Its leaves are used for making bidis and are a major minor forest produce of the forests of North and Central India.

In Japan, this fruit was known as the imperial fruit in the 8th century. But by the 17th century, the production of this fruit in Japan increased so much that it became the fruit of the common man. In Japan, this fruit is used not only as a food item but also as a preservative. The leaves of the Japanese fruit contain a high amount of alkali, which is capable of protecting against bacteria. In Japan, the fish is wrapped in the leaves of the Japanese fruit to prevent it from rotting.

There are many folk tales about the Japanese fruit. For example, the story of monkey, crab and kaki (Japanese fruit name in Japan) in Japan. In this story a monkey has a seed of Kaki. When he is hungry, he gives that seed to a crab in exchange for a ball of rice, saying that its tree will bear never-ending fruits and then he will not have to wander for food. The crab took that seed and sown it in the ground. When the tree grew and was laden with fruits, the crab stood under the tree and looked at those fruits.

Then the monkey came there and Kaki started eating the fruits. When the crab tried to stop him, the monkey threw a raw Kaki fruit towards the crab. The fruit fell on the crab and injured the crab. Then that crab together with eggs, bees, hammer and thorns decided to take revenge on the monkey. Together they harassed the monkey so much that in the end he died. The story chronicles the intoxicating taste of the Japanese fruit, for which one would be ready to do anything.

There is a belief in Korea that persimmon protects against tigers. People living in the hills of the Ozarks believe that persimmon seeds indicate the ferocity of winter. If the inside of the seed is spoon-shaped, then that area will face a lot of snowfall. If it is shaped like a fork, the winter will be shorter. If the seed is as sharp as a knife, it will blow extremely cold winds during the winter.

Japanese fruit benefits

The Japanese fruit also contains medicinal properties inside itself. It is rich in manganese, vitamins A, C, B6 and fiber which can keep humans away from many diseases. Regular consumption of Japanese fruit is also effective in running away from obesity. Antioxidants found in Japanese fruits eliminate cancer-causing elements in the body.

The medicinal properties of Japanese fruit are also confirmed by many scientific studies. According to a research published in the journal Food Chemistry in the year 2013, fungicidal elements have been found in Japanese fruit and can be used instead of chemical fungicides. A study published in 2010 in the journal Oncology Reports suggests that the Japanese fruit is effective in the treatment of malignant leukemia.

According to a research published in the year 2007 in the Journal of Chinese Medicinal Materials, a chemical compound called flavones is found in the leaves of the Japanese fruit, which prevents the destruction of muscles due to cancerous tumors. At the same time, a research published in the year 2010 issue of the journal Phytotherapy Research suggests that Japanese fruit is effective in reducing increased cholesterol.