George Dominic

Lives in Kerala, IndiaOct 27

Which is your most favourite food from your cultural cuisine?

My favourite Malayali cuisine is a unique, traditional snack of my State, Kerala (India). And it's the well known Kumbilappam, an authentic and exclusive snack of the Malabar coast.

They are nothing but hot steamed sweet dumplings flavoured with 'true cinnamon leaf'.

This snack comes in different variants but the Jack Fruit variant is the flagship one. Indeed this is one fine food that comes from the Official State Fruit (Jack Fruit). And it's a seasonal snack.

Well, Kumbilappam is also something hard to find. I mean they are not much into being commercialised.

But since this snack is my family's top favourite, my Amma makes them frequently during the Jack Fruit season.

I guess it's sad that Kumbilappam is still within the kitchens of Malayali households and not a popular commercial snack.

I suppose it's due to the hardship in dealing with the Jack Fruit and the difficulty in finding bulk quantity of 'true cinnamon leaves' that cause a hindrance.

Well I guess the True Cinnamon Tree is somewhat uncommonn. In fact, in my neighbourhood, I am the sole owner of a True Cinnamon Tree.

(Sure, I offer leaves to my neighbours).

Kumbilappam is a traditional, delightful snack and it is made from one of the sweetest fruits and they do come out of hot steamer wrapped in aromatic flavouring leaves as the world's most unique dumpling.

It's something that ought to be tasted.

Footnotes

Chakka Kumbilappam / Edannayappam / Steamed Jackfruit Dumplings

Kumbilappam is an authentic Kerala snack food made from Chakka / Jackfruits cooked with rice flour and jaggery. Kumbilappam is made using edana leaves.

https://www.cheenachatti.com/recipe/chakka-kumbilappam-edannayappam-jackfruit-dumplings/

Jackfruit - Wikipedia

The jackfruit ( Artocarpus heterophyllus ), also known as jack tree , [7] is a species of tree in the fig , mulberry , and breadfruit family ( Moraceae ). [8] Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Sri Lanka and the rainforests of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. [8] [9] [10] [11] The jack tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands , and is widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It bears the largest fruit of all trees, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 pounds) in weight, 90 cm (35 inches) in length, and 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter. [8] [12] A mature jack tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. [8] [9] The jackfruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals of the unripe fruit are eaten. [8] [13] The ripe fruit is sweet (depending on variety) and is more often used for desserts. Canned green jackfruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture that lends itself to being called a "vegetable meat". [8] Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines. [14] [15] Both ripe and unripe fruits are consumed. The jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka , and the state fruit of the Indian states of Karnataka , Kerala and Tamil Nadu . It is available internationally canned or frozen and in chilled meals as are various products derived from the fruit such as noodles and chips. Etymology and common name Edit Jackfruit tree illustrated from one of the earliest natural history books about China by Jesuit Missionary author Michael Boym in 1656. The word jackfruit comes from Portuguese jaca , which in turn is derived from the Malayalam language term chakka (Malayalam: chakka pazham ), [13] [16] when the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode ( Calicut ) on the Malabar Coast ( Kerala ) in 1499. Later the Malayalam name ചക്ക ( cakka ) was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus , vol. iii in Latin . Henry Yule translated the book in Jordanus Catalani's ( fl. 1321–1330 ) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East . [17] This term is in turn derived from the Proto-Dravidian root kā(y) ("fruit, vegetable"). [18] The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India . [19] [20] Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal , Sumatra , and Malaya . [21] The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as indicated by the Southeast Asian names which are not derived from the Sanskrit roots . It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula . The fruit was later introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire . [22] [23] It is

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

Cinnamomum verum - Wikipedia

Bark, powder and dried flowers from Cinnamomum verum plant

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamomum_verum

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