Karonda is a berry found growing on shrubs in Goa and the Western Ghats in India in the wild.
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Karonda Berry Names
So here we go today with some interesting knowledge about the Kantam berry (known as Kanta in Bardez).
This particular black ball of a fruit is known in the botanical world as Carissa Carandas, in English as pickle berry and in other parts of India as Kronda, Karonda (Hindi - करोंदा) or even Kranda (करानदा), Krvinda (Marathi), Kalakai (Tamil), Vakkay (Telugu), Karamcha (Bengali) and Karamda (Gujerati).
Some more names may include Christ's thorn, Namdaeng, Bengal currant and Caramba.
Where to find it?
The shrub itself grows on Goas hill sides, means in a tropical/subtropical climate, but according to Wikipedia even at lower levels of the Himalayan mountain chain.
Apparently, this shrub is quite scares but existent all over South Asia and even till Afghanistan.
I did find a useful little Karonda cultivation e-booklet online, which explains perfectly well on how to grow it successfully in your orchard.
The berry and plant parts have been used for over 1000 of years in the traditional medicine, although it appears that the global research has been very recent and most probably (unsurprisingly) they are still researching the plant's abilities and benefits.
The Kantam berry is not commercialized at all yet, though the Indian government seems to have an interest in doing so.
Anyway, we have the luck of buying them on certain days in the local Goan markets, but as I can see, it is quite scarce here around, since I have barely seen them being sold in the past 2 years.
Otherwise, you might have the opportunity to roam on some hills to collect the berries by yourself, which is pretty fun!
One thing has to be noted here that India's jungles and hills are not safe for foreign people, so I would suggest being careful and thinking it through, but the main problem is anyway the privatization of hills and the wrath of power of the non-local resort and hotel owners.
So most probably you won't be able to even go up the hill because some fence or security guard is keeping you away from nature goodness (in touristic parts of Goa at least).
Uses
If you do come across those little fruit wonders, then you might have the chance to recreate a culinary bliss, such as a pickle, jam, chutney, curry, juice or you can even make of them a fruit tart!
The ripe dark berries contain a load of natural pectin so they are suited to be preserved (by the way they omit a white sticky fluid).
Since I had only 6 little berries and because I was unaware of ways to prepare the fruits, I ended up just eating them plain.
In fact, we all do that here, especially the kids who wander around to collect them. BUT I am looking forward to trying around and creating a few noteworthy dishes in the future, right now, the berries are not available anymore, so we will have to wait until next year.
