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Ice apples are the darling of summer!
The Palmyra fruit, also known as tadgola, is a treasure to be enjoyed once you peel off its hard exterior shell
With the scorching weather, you’ll definitely want to tweak your diet to suit the hot temperatures. For a complete treat, reach for a bowl of ice apples, popularly known as tadgolas. The tropical fruit of the palmyra tree is known to help beat the summer heat as it cools the body. The drippy translucent fruit is also delicious and as sweet as it gets!
Reetu Uday Kugaji, culinary expert and consultant chef, says, “Ice apples are perfect in summer. They have a similar texture to litchi and the flavour of sweet tender coconut. You may blend a sharbat, prepare tadgola and thandai kheer, payasam, tadgola mojito, falooda and ice creams with it.”
She shares her tried-and-tested recipes:
Nungu Sarbath (Ice apple drink from Tamil Nadu)
Ingredients
Palm fruit (Nungu), mashed -1 cup
Nannari syrup - 4 tbsp
Chilled water - 2 cups
Fresh lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Rock salt – ¼ tsp
Ice cubes - as required
Method
Peel off the skin and mash the palm fruit (nungu) with a spoon. Add to serving glasses with nannari syrup, lemon juice and rock salt, along with ice cubes and chilled water. Mix and serve chilled.
Tadgola ice cream
Ingredients
Ice apples, coarsely ground – ½ 2 cup
Fresh cream, chilled and whipped – ½ cup
Thick chilled coconut milk – ½ cup
Condensed milk – ¾ cup
Sea salt - a pinch
Method:
Blend the ground tadgola, whipped cream, coconut milk, condensed milk and sea salt. Pour it into a rectangular ice cream tray and seal. Freeze overnight. Enjoy it with drizzle of organic honey.
HEALTH BENEFITS
Tadgolas are extremely light on your digestive system, quenches thirst instantly and is very low in sugar. Juice them for a quick pick-me-up, says Sheela Tanna. She shares tips to enjoy it.
Coconut-tadgola delight
Mix with coconut water and vanilla ice cream. Top with crushed tadgola, for a low-cal party drink.
Tadgola smooothie
Mix tadgola with low fat milk. Add milk powder and honey. Blend. Add chia seeds and cool. Enjoy the low-sugar smoothie.
Tadgola lollies
Juice tadgola and add kiwi, orange slices, pineapple and pour into a kulfi/gola/candy mould. Freeze and enjoy.
Tadgola jelly
Chop tadgola and add it to your jelly mix. Set and enjoy it with custard.
