VAZHAPAZHAM- RIPE PLANTAIN Dear friends,
I have observed in the last three months on closerobservation eating of asingle plantain increase my blood sugar level by 30 points. Everyday taking blood sugar reading and adjusting food items accordingly as myfamily doctor suggested. This I have observed after changing my meals with chapattiin the first one month and wheat rice now. I feel a special taste for wheatrice. Chapatti I found difficulty to chew. But while taking normal rice I used to take half a plantain (Poovan) and it did not increased my blood sugar level. So diabetics canconsume plantain makingsure the blood glucose level closely and ensure not increasing, or taking advicefrom doctor. Generally ripe plantainscan be eaten by all not having diabetics Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 13-4-2021 1 Plantain skin Normally ripen plantains are eaten after removing skin.Some plantains have thick skin inside of which is protein and Vitamin richpart. I read elsewhere eating such skins is better than plantain itself. I hada grandmother who would eat inside of thick plantain skin first… 2 Colour What is the colour of ripen plantain skin- An answer yellow is only 70%correct. There are red plantains and green plantains even when ripencalled Pachhapazham.Some plantains have dots over yellow skin. It is called Pulli vazhappazham. Some plantains are mostly used when it is raw and wellgrown. An example is Monthan.Banana (Nentran) is used as raw as well as fruit. 3 Taste and smell Though all plantains are sweet and tasty- some are tastier. Tounderstand the taste of plantain, it has to be given to a diabetic person,restricted to eat plantain. I am told by my doctor once a week a plantain will not harmat all. The Poovan/ Rasthali, Elachi, Kadali etc. are tastier comparing toother varieties. The red plantain has a special smell. Ithas more medicinal value also. Whethervitamins and proteins are there or not skin is very thin for Poovan. We cannoteat it. 4 Price Nowadays the price difference between plantains ismarginal. Either elachi or rasthali or Banana the retail price is above Rs80-00 per kg in Chennai. 5 Pazampori 90% ripen banana is used to prepare the snack- Pazhamporiin Kerala side. We cannot get Pazhampori in Tamilnadu. We get plenty ofbananas. Since digestion takes more time, after meals A FULL BANANA is not suggested.We can eat a quarter. Raw Banana is used to prepare banana chips. EarlierBanana and Banana chips were rare in Tamilnadu. Now most sweet and snack shopshave banana chips. All supermarkets we can get banana chips. Bajji with raw plantainfor Tamilnadu people can be compared to pazhampori to a Keralite in favouring. 6 Boiling and eating Probably Banana is the only ripen plantain boiled andeaten. This practice would have been from very early times. In restaurants weget either fully boiled ripen banana or cut to pieces and boiled. 7 Srardha and plantain Two plantains used in srardha to serve Bhokthas are Poovanand banana. Since the skin is very thin and slippery, poovan pazham is served afterskin removed to bhokthas PAZHANURUKKU is served in srardha in Kerala side.During srardha pazhanurukku is prepared after removing skin, cut to pieces putin boiling jaggery and ghee added and served. Because of ghee it can beslightly crispy. The monthanplantain is used as raw during srardha to prepare Poduthooval. Tworaw monthan plantains and raw rice in a thoosan plantain leaf is given during Hiranyasrardham. Why monthanis selected during Hiranya srardham is not clear to me. Learntreaders can write about it. 8 Use in temples andfunctions Plantain ripe as bunches is essential item in all auspiciousfunctions. I am not sure why the sasthrikal prefer normal plantain to Rasthaliin auspicious functions. Thename of plantain in Sanskrit is Kadali. Hence sasthrikal use Kadaliphalam in mantras. This was earlier clarified to me by Sri Narayanaswamy iyer. In Kerala temples the offering Trimadhuram- either kadalior poovan plantain is sliced and added. Normal plantains are offered as Neivedyam during Mandalam chirappu inmost temples in Kerala. In Guruvayur temple for Tulabharam I have seen mostly Banana ripen isused. However ordinary plantains are also used in other temples. 9 Banana specialty Vazha Pazhangalil prathaman Nenthran- First among plantainsis banana. Banana is used to prepare Prathaman, Valsan also. Pazham varatti isalso prepared using banana. 10 Plantain skin Earlier days skin of nenthran was used to prepare thoranetc. Now it is cut and given to cows along with rice cleaning water It is very easy for slip over ripe plantain skin. So it should not be thrown on roadside, Elders, those having no good eye sight and those thinking and walking wouldslip over banana skin and can break their hip, leg hand etc. 11 Dogs and plantain Plantains are not eaten by dogs. Some cows eat not plantain skin, but onlyplantain. Elephants and monkeys relish eating plantain. Givingplantains to them is considered as offering to Vinayaka and Aanjaneyarespectively. 12 Archana, betrotheletc. The minimum items for Archana in temples are two plantains,betel leaves, aracanut and some flowers. While exchanging Packku vetthilai, whethertold or not a bunch of excellent well grown plantain is also kept. While going tosee elders it was/is apractice to take some QUALITY PLANTAINS. During Navarathri weget even dry or over ripen plantains also (Probably due to scarcity). However mostare fed to cattle only is the fact. In Kerala we can see plantainssuspended as Kula. In Tamilnadu we see it kept as bunches. Cart selling ofplantains is not seen in Kerala. Update- in Tamilnadualso fruit shops now suspend plantain as kula 13 Feasts During feasts plantain is served in leaf and sometimesafter feast also in Thamboola thattu. Normally Rasthali or poovan is served and kept. Women are barred from eating rettapazham- two plantainsskins are bunched at a portion. Gents can eat them. 14 Palum pazhavum Giving Palum Pazhavum is an item in Brahmin weddings. Forthis plantains are sliced and added in milk in a silver glass and given using asilver spoon to the couple. Probably life should be shining and sweet may bethe underlying essence of the item. 15 Sayings Vazhappazhathil oosieatthal (entering aneedle in ripen plantain) is a saying meaning telling the matter andrequirement in a soft and progressive manner. We had a sasthrikal in my native who used to talk of hisdakshina without telling the figure like- Vazhappazhathil oosi eathal. Eldersused to comment when I was a boy. Kayo pazhamo is an indirect way of asking-Result is positive or negative. Pazham meant positive. I am not sure whether the location Pazhavangadi has anythingto do with plantains. Whether it was Pazham Angadi at one time? 16 Guruvayoor temple andKadalippazham incident One legend about Kadali pazham - Long ago In Guruvayurtemple one day thepriest asked his Unni to perform nivedayam, having some urgent work.Unni prayed to Krishna after Nivedayam to take at least one plantain and eat. Krishna came, took one plantain and ate as desired by Unni and leftsmiling at Unni Nampoothiri. Father came and asked for the missing of one kadaliplantain from the Nivedyam. Unni said he prayed Krishna to come and eat and Krishna came and ateone. Father felt it asUnni telling lie after eating one and started scolding Unni. He could not digest Krishna came inperson and ate. In the night father had a dream where Krishna told, do not disbelieve Unni, he himselfhas come and ate one pazham. Father regretted, what he could notachieve in years of worship and prayer, the Unni could get by a single request. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1254199942.961645.1618289029149%40mail.yahoo.com.
