Summer special Tendu fruits hit the market in Telangana

Loaded with health benefits, Koya tribals collect them from the deep forests to be sold in towns in Kothagudem

Kothagudem: If summer comes, can the exotic Tuniki Pandu (Tendu fruit) be far behind? Tribal people collect and sell the fruit in towns like Kothagudem and others during the season. Tendu trees, known as Coromandel ebony with the scientific name Diospyros melanoxylon, are called Tuniki in AP and Telangana. In Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam, it is known as Kendu or by its Hindi name Tendu.

The plant’s leaves provide a livelihood to tribals who collect them and sell them as they are used to make beedis. The leaves are also used as styptic, in the treatment of scabies and old wounds, and as laxative and carminative medicine by tribals. Of late, Tendu fruits have become rare and come in limited quantities. They have a pleasant and sweet yellowish pulp when fully ripe. The fruits are low in carbohydrate content and rich in fiber and loaded with many nutritional and health benefits. “I bought the fruits from koya tribals who collect them from trees in the deep forests,” said a Lambadi woman Bhadri of Oddugudem village of Tekulapalli mandal in the district, who is selling the fruits in Kothagudem.

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Speaking to Telangana Today, Bhadri said she bought the fruits at a Koya hamlet, Sampath Nagar of Gundala mandal. Last year the trees failed to bear the fruits and this year the yield was low, she said, adding that she bought around 40 kg to sell in the town. A local, Mogilipaka Srinivas recalled that he and his friends used to have these fruits in abundance 40 years ago during school days. But things have changed and nowadays, very few know about these fruits, which have become rare, he said.

Children used to buy tuniki fruits besides other wild fruits like Pariki Pallu (Jackal jujube), Velakkaya (wood apple), and others from elderly women who used to sit outside the school selling them, he said.

According to a naturopathy expert, G Suguna Rao, the Tendu fruit has anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic properties, helps in controlling blood sugar, provides relief from hypertension, and keeps the liver healthy. With rich vitamin C, Tendu fruits also strengthen immunity. In addition to that, the fruit also reduces the risk of cancer. Consuming wild fruits that are fully organic is always beneficial to one’s health, he suggests.