Health Drink from Bitter Gourd and Kokam

Mohammad Ajmal, Amit Pratap Singh

Post Graduate Department of Food Technology, FET, RBS Eng. Tech. Campus, Agra The demand for fruit beverages is increasing in India as well as in other countries due to increasing trend towards fast food and also to cater the changing consumer taste. Fruit beverages have higher nutritional value compares to synthetic beverages and these can be improved further by blending pulp, juice of two or more fruits having excellent flavor, delicious taste and high nutritive and therapeutic value. The Bitter gourd is one of the most common vegetable of Indian subcontinent and cultivated during warm season. The Bitter gourd fruit is of considerable importance because of its many medicinal applications and rich source of ascorbic acid and fair source of protein, minerals and dietary fiber. Bitter gourd is considered, antidiabetic, stomachic, and carminative, used in rheumatism, gout, diseases of liver and spleen and also used as stimulant, blood purifier, laxative, anthelmentic and as a treatment for leprosy, piles and jaundice. Kokum (Garcinia indica choicy) belongs to the family Guttiferae. Many therapeutic effects of the fruits have been described in traditional medicine based on ayurveda. These includes its usefulness as an it fusion in skin aliments such as rashes caused by allergies; treatments of burn, scalda chaffed skin; to relive sunstroke; remedy for dysentery and mucous diarrhea; an appetizer and good liver tonic; to improve appetite and to allay thirst; as a cardio tonic and for bleeding, piles, dysentery, tumors and heart diseases. Drink prepared from Bitter Gourd and Kokam is good for health and contain various medicinal properties.