Avarampoo or Tanner’s Cassia
I had noticed the bright yellow Avarampoo flowers on our land, enjoyed the bright yellow, but didn’t know anything about Avaram poo till a few years back. The shrub looks like any other plant, with leaves similar to that of the tamarind and the fruit long, hanging pods like the tamarind again. It was our field manager RK, also a healer, who told me about the healing properties of Avaram poo. RK brought a whole bunch of the flowers and made a decoction for all if us at Bio Basics, most of us couldn’t down it as it was quite bitter. I forgot about it but noticed the floors every time during our walks. Bright yellow and eye-catching.
Avarampoo, or Tanners cassia (Senna auriculata or Cassia auriculata) is supposed to be excellent for diabetics to regulate blood sugar levels. High in antioxidants oxidants, a great remedy for dehydration, urinary tract infections and good for the skin. I am told that some beauty therapists use this in face masks.
Then a few weeks back I just felt like trying the tea again, I stopped plucked the Avarampoo flowers and was walking back with the flowers in my hand, when a lady sitting pillion on a bike stopped and said, “You should eat the petals, just put them in your mouth and chew, it will help regulate blood sugar within weeks if you do this every day”.
What saddened me was that she assumed that someone my age is more likely than not to have high blood sugar, an assumption that stems from how rampant diabetes has become. What gladdened me is that she felt concerned enough to stop and tell me this. I responded that I had plucked these flowers to make a tea.
This time I did not boil the flowers. I plucked the Avarampoo petals and put it into the boiled water and kept it for a few minutes to steep then poured it into a cup added some raw cane sugar (I do not have diabetes so this is not counter-intuitive) and we really enjoyed the tea. Now, this has been added to our list of herbal teas. Also what I love is the fact that this is another example of eating wild, eating uncultivated and local…
More power to local food, wild harvests…
