And today is a special day for its usage.

Bael fruit is an amazing delicious fruit that is specific to Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and the benefits it offers is unmatched to any other fruit, when it comes to treat digestive disorders. The fruit is very hard in it's texture, so Nature has created solely for us - the human, because birds or any other animals can't steal them, unless they fall on the ground ( which happens when they are fully ripen) and break.

The tree is full of thorn, so even it's difficult for us to climb the tree, so we have to use some tools to pluck them. Different plants produce different sized bael, the bigger the better. This plant is just in front of someone's house nearby and the baels are pretty well sized, and seem to be of good quality. The fruit has myriad of nutrients including vitamins A, B1, B2, C, minerals,calcium, potassium, iron etc but what makes it distinguished is that, it can cure any digestive disorder or peptic ulcers and even has anticancer properties. And there is no restriction on who can consume this - made for all. Some people even boil the raw ones and eat to fix their digestive issues - it's powerful than medicine. Eating seven leaves and few black peppers in the morning for some time even fixes all digestive disorders, especially acidity, gastritis.

We have a plant outside of our society, but it was not possible for me to get them on my own, so I requested the person who earlier helped me on my garden, and he was able to grab a big bamboo and get me few baels. This is the only season during which they are available, so I try to collect them from all source and consume daily. In one of my earlier post, I asked you to identify the tree at the end and that is a bael tree at my native. I was able to procure few baels from there as well. We just keep them under the sun for few days and they ripen nicely.

They are small in size but very tasty, I left few for Mom as today is a special day to prepare a bael drink. I also got few big ones from one other friend's friend's house - it was so good that, I have collected some seeds to try develop plants from them, after the boy advised (he loves bael now and want to plant it himself). The beauty of rural living is that you can almost walk into anyone's house and request for these nature's gift and they will happily share - free with a smiling face.

They are available in market, but now a days, the price is very high, apparently because of growing health consciousness. Usually they sell for ₹50, but for today, the price doubled.

Because today is the traditional new year day festival of my place, known as Pana Sankranti in which Pana ( a special drink) is made using the bael fruit. It's also believed to be the birthday of Lord Hanuman.

The Pana is prepared at home with Bael, chhena, banana, grated coconut and jaggery and very delicious. Some people even add other fruits, ginger and black pepper. And the most wild pana is "Bhanga pana" - Bhang being the leaves of cannabis plant (they make a paste by grinding and then mix). We once had a very funny and wild experience and since then have decided to never take it again, but if consumed in very small quantity, it will make the evening memorable :) I will share that story some day.

I am happy that the boy is now a big fan of this natural medicine, initially he was hesitating, but now he only persuades me to get them from all possible source. He now understands why Food should be treated as our medicine, which is very important for their generation because I believe there will be a time when fortunate will be those, who will grow their own organic food and be healthy - every vegetable that sells in market is poisoned, but we don't have a choice.

If you are in other parts of the world and have digestive disorders, then I highly recommend to try this nature's gift, by getting it from here - I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed. This is now our everyday choice of fruit till available - nature knows what is best for us and gives them in that season.

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