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.
I am glad to see these vakkaya (in Telugu Language) which we love to eat, many variety of dishes are prepared in our Andhra Pradesh one of them is vakkaya dal a delecious dish, and this fruit can be used in place green mango and you can search the web to prepare delicious dishes by the name vakkaya along with rice.
Wow how cool is this! I ll be looking out for the berries during summer time and try out the dal the way you explained it. I am really curious about how it will taste. Thanks so much for sharing this with us here. 🙂
Let me correct my earlier comment.
I do not feel thirsty .
I do find them in ample of quantity all over in the Hills of Sahyadri during raw in April and riped in May. I have a Farm at Velha Tahsil Dist. Pune where I go there to taste this extra ordinary fruit. I have to roam on hills in summer with a cap on my head. I do feel thirsty even at 2pm when I am eating this fruit.
We do get this fruit in Pune city during summer ranging from 40-100 per kg.
I think so that's the same rate in goa per kg, of course it always depends on the size and quality. How nice that you have your own farm growing the fruit, it has become such a rare fruit and it's good that some like you try to preserve it's existence in the world by cultivating it. Here they have become quite rare in goa, due to hill cuttings etc. Is the MH government providing any help in cultivating karonda?
You are braver than me. When I see something like this, I just leave it alone 😛 Very cute berries!
Thankyou for the mention, i too was curious about it when i saw in fb page 🙂
We too get karonda berries in my home state and they are mostly red in colour, my mom makes sweet relish with these. Good to know so much about these berries.
Helena we get something similar in Rajasthan and call them as Karonda too, but they are deep red or purple in color. These makes a wonderful pickle.
very interesting. I wish I could taste them
Wow. That's awesome to find something new. Look forward to seeing how you use them!
It improves the libido and it hasn't been snatched up and sold for a gazillion dollars?? Hard to believe. 🙂
lol, unbelievable right?! See,.. not everything is discovered yet. 😀
Helen, thank you so much for introducing us this exotic Pickle berry, I wish I could try some, I am curious about its taste 🙂 Looking forward to your delicious creations with this fruit!
Have a wonderful day!
I wonder why they haven't been exploited commercially before now. So what do they taste like?
I am glad that you are asking! =)
They taste sour but some are more sweet. You ought to get the right one. In my experience the riper
the sweeter, as it is with all berry types. You can compare them with the taste of cherries!