Kanthari Chilli : Homely Medicine for Cholesterol

  

                              When there was no Boost and Horlicks, the health secret of   Malayali’s Energy was Pazhankanji and Kanthari, at that time cholesterol never showed the courage to enter any Malayali Homes. New lifestyles and fast food culture have significant role in making the younger generation of people unhealthy and leading them to the high risks of cholesterol, Diabetes, Blood pressure etc.

                              Many of our old grandparents, are partial physicians providing first aid medicines and solution to common human diseases. They were rich in knowledge about the medicinal plants and its quick results, so they used to plant many of such medicinal plants in home itself like Thulasi, Kanthari, Ginger, and Turmeric and so on.

Today we discuss the medicinal importance of Kanthari chillies or Bird’s eye chillies in controlling Cholesterol.

How Kanthari Chilli Respond to cholesterol?

           Kanthari mulaku (Capsicum frutescens) are perennial crop in Kerala which can be cultivated or naturally germinated by bird dropping. It is an erect, branched and half-woody plant, growing to a height of 0.5 to 1 meter. It is an introduced plant; Native Americans have used this plant as both food and medicine for at least 9,000 years. The benefits of Kanthari Chilli are

1: It reduces Blood sugar.

2: It lowers cholesterol and works against arthritis and rheumatism.

3: Capsaicin has very powerful pain-relieving properties.

4: It increases appetite by stimulating the gut.

5: Various studies show that bird’s eye chilli has antimicrobial, antifungal and        antibacterial activities.

6: It is also reported that it prevents blood clots, halts bleeding quickly, knocks out cold and flu miseries.

7: It also reduces risk of heart diseases and tuberculosis.

             Kanthari Fruits are small, tapering capsules, often 2-3, at a node. The fruits of most varieties are white, dark green, pale green or purple getting red on ripening. They are with distinguishable flavor, Fruit length is about 2–3 cm and Seeds per fruit are 10–20 Nos.Fruits and leaves of the plants are edible. Tribes of Wayanad districts use its leaves as vegetable.

Each 100g edible portion of fruits contains:

• Water 86.0 g
• Protein 1.9 g
• Fat 1.9 g
• Carbohydrates 9.2 g
• Iron 1.2 mg
• Calcium 14.4 mg
• Vitamin A 700-21600 IU
• Vitamin C 242.0 mg
• Energy Value 257.0 kJ

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Precautions:

Kanthari mulaku may cause stomach irritation for the persons with ulcers or heartburn, Capsaicin can increase stomach acid, making certain drugs less effective.

Kerala Healthy Recipes for Cholesterol control

1: Kanthari mulaku chammanthi 

               Boiled tapioca with kanthari mulaku chammanthi is a deadly combo keralites love to eat. Key ingredients are fresh kanthari mulaku (capsicum frutescens), small onions or garlic, salt, coconut oil and a pinch of tamarind. Crush kanthari mulaku with small onion or garlic and mix with salt, tamarind. You can add 1 spoon coconut oil to this mixture. Coconut oil will reduce the hot effect of kanthari mulaku and you can serve this with boiled tapioca, rice etc. This will reduce the cholesterol level.

2: Sambharam – morum vellam / spiced buttermilk 

                       It’s a traditional Kerala drink and we can use this to reduce the cholesterol. kanthari chillies and yogurt are the main items to make morum vellam. Yogurt, kanthari chillies or green chillies, water, curry leaves, ginger, salt are the ingredients to make tasty sambharam. Crush ginger and kanthari mulaku, add water to yogurt and mix well. You can add salt and the kanthari mulaku/ginger paste to this. Mix well and enjoy the tasty sambharam aka morum vellam. If you want to reduce your cholesterol level can use this regularly.

Spiceup your diet with Kanthari 

               The price for Kanthari chillies are very high, so we need to plant it on our home or even Terrace in sacks. Have a healthy diet and reduce life carving diseases like cholesterol without eating liver killing allopathic medicines. Be organic and go back to traditional healthy life. Current trend is that to buy spices in India, people are coming from various parts of the world and unfortunately we people from land of spices destroy such plants from the herbal gardens near our home.

Let’s avoid soft drinks and enjoy good ‘sambarams’, instead of heavy fried chicken barbeque cool your stomach with energy rich’ Pazhankanji and Kanthari’.