How to Store Bimbul | Tamarind Substitute | Bilimbi

Bimbul (in konkani language)

Dried bilimbi (bimbul)

This blog is about how to store bilimbi for long time.

The bilimbi plant blooms flower during February and bears fruit until December.

The bilimbi fruit is sour in taste and are used as a tamarind substitute. The matured and ripped bilimbi fruit are used in vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes as souring agent. The tender bilimbi fruit are used to prepare various pickles.

When it comes to tamarind, there are different quality and varieties of them available in market. The seedless and seed ones are also available. But the clean tamarind without much dust are available only in rural places. So instead of low quality tamarind you can substitute it with bilimbi.

My mother and grandma, sun dry the bilimbi and use it as the tamarind substitute. But now a days we rarely find bilimbi trees. I hear people say the bilimbi tree bears more fruit but very few are used, so we are planning to chop the tree off. I feel sorry for the trees, as the importance of it is known when you don't have one. People also say this tree sheds lot of leaves so planning to chop it. Because it becomes difficult to keep surrounding clean.

Check out bilimbi gojju recipe here

Method

Fetch the bilimbi fruit. Wipe them with a clean cloth.
Slice them lengthwise.
Spread in a plastic sheet or in any other sheet.
Sun dry it for 15-20 days.
Once it turns complete black in color and is crisp to touch allow it to cool down to room temperature and then store it in air tight container as it is or grind them to fine powder, store it in air tight container and refrigerate.
Use it whenever required as a souring agent to prepare masala.

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