Kachampuli, a vinegar of a kind prepared out of Panapuli fruit (Garcinia gummi-gutta) juice, is an indispensable kitchen ingredient in Kodagu homes, specially for ‘Pandikari’

Kodagu, which is known the world over for its rich and aromatic coffee, is also home to Panapuli fruit and the ‘ethnic’ Kachampuli vinegar produced from it.

Come monsoon, many people in Kodagu, especially the farmers, are busy harvesting the Panapuli fruit as there is a great demand for its dark syrup, also known as Coorg Vinegar, which is used as a souring agent in Kodava cooking.

This thick black vinegar is the concentrated juice of Garcinia gummi-gutta, the tropical fruit that is also used in dried form for cooking by some.

Panapuli fruit trees are found in some coffee estates and forest areas in Kodagu. The tree starts flowering during March-April and the fruits get ripened by June-July by which the fruit colour would have changed to yellow. The pulpy Panapuli fruit also has seeds inside it. To prepare the vinegar, the juice extracted from the ripened fruits, is boiled down in an earthen vessel using firewood till the juice turns thick and dark (brownish black). Then it is cooled and filled in bottles to be sold in the market. The Kachampuli (vinegar) is sold at rates ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 900 per bottle, depending upon the demand and can be preserved for years without adding any preservatives.

Kachampuli adds flavour to non-vegetarian Kodava cuisines like pork, mutton and fish. As for pork curry, chops or fry, it is a must culinary ingredient. Without it, pork preparation, specially, cannot be called a Coorg speciality dish.

Apart from extracting the juice to make vinegar, the ripened fruits are also used in dry form by many people including Keralites and Mangaloreans.

The fruit is cut into four parts and dried over an iron net under fire; before drying the fruit, first the 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide iron net with 4 supporting pillars is installed and the fire is lit under the net. The dried fruit is sold at Rs. 120-130 per kg.

Nowadays, Panapuli saplings are sold in nurseries. The fruit is a relative of Kokum, which is used in some Konkan and Maharashtrian cuisines too.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 24th, 2015

A study tour organised jointly by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here and Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD), Kozhikode, to various pepper plantations in Coorg in Karnataka provided a fresh experience to the pepper farmers in Wayanad.

Decades ago, Wayanad was known as the land of spices but it lost its fame in pepper production since the 1990s when the vines began to get affected by various diseases.

“We organised the tour to provide an exposure to the farmers on the significance of adopting scientific practices in pepper cultivation to keep the diseases at bay and improve pepper production, P. Ramakrishnan, training coordinator, MSSRF, told The Hindu .

The organisations have been jointly organising training programmes for progressive farmers on modern agriculture practices in pepper cultivation for the past one year. The effort is to bring back the lost glory of the district as a leading pepper producer, Mr. Ramakrishnan said.

As part of the tour, 25 farmers visited various pepper plantations in Coorg, including a farm of the DASD at Appagala in Coorg.

They were told about the way the DASD tackled the quick wilt disease that had spread in various parts of Coorg a decade ago, threatening the pepper plantations here.

Scientific agriculture practices were followed, and farmers in the area were getting an average yield of 7 tonne pepper from a hector, Mr. Ramakrishnan said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by E. M. Manoj / Kalpetta, April 01st, 2015