I attended the Sattvik Food Festival recently, and there at one of the stalls I came across one of the most interesting thing ever. I have honestly never heard of it or seen it ever before. It was lal bhinda nu juice. For me, bhindi has alway sbeen the green crisp vegetable used to make one of my favorite dishes, and also something I used as a kid to make those color prints on paper as part of art class. But this was something totally different – lal bhinda?
I asked the guys there, they pointed something like dried leaf petals, bright red in color, that were dried up and made into a fresh juice. It is consumed for health and refreshment. It is also used in cooking as a source of sour flavors, like we use lemon or kokum.
The juice was quite tangy. The stall volunteers let me know that it is generally even more tangy, so they had added in some sugar to reduce it for the general public who might not prefer the taste otherwise.
I checked with Adil Marawala , he remembered seeing something similar on one of his friend – Nandita Amin’s blogs. Thanks Nandita Amin for sharing the information about this one. She let us know that it is called Sheriya in Gujarati too. It is a great susbstitute for making cranberry sauce. Egyptians also use it for making special Hibiscus tea. The scientific name of this plant is Hibiscus sabdariffa. It is a floral species and the flowers are used for food purposes.
Learnt something new, i would have never known this otherwise. Thanks to everyone who helps me on my foodie path.