It wasn’t until much later in life,as an adult,that I knew the English name for the ezhantha palam.The Indian jujube as it is also known is a huge favourite in rural India. For me the ezhantha palam will always remind me of the ezhantha vadai,that was and still has my brother and cousins drooling. This is one treat that always evokes many memories of fun times at school,the pranks,the teasing,the laughter,the spicy/sweet/tangy taste of the ezhantha vadai in your mouth,that leaves you craving for more !!!
This small red fruit is dried in the sun,then sometimes the seeds are removed,not always ! I so prefer the seeds removed,that way you can eat it faster ;)) Once it’s dried,it is pounded together with tamarind,jaggery and red chillies..(drool drool and more drool).. and then it’s left to dry some more ! In the school canteens,little sachets of the same blend used to be available in a semi liquid form…the number of plastic sachets with teeth marks on them were too many to count but …oh my god!!!… they were so good !!!
As I’m writing this I can so visualise the affectionate but not to be messed with grandmothers,who were very particular about the quality of the fruit and very precise about the process of making the ezhantha vadais. Until this day it is my grandmother and her siblings,who continue to think of us and send us these nuggets of salivating deliciousness,without fail,every year, during the ezhantha palam season and make us feel like greedy little children,all over again !
I can only imagine what it must have been like at a different moment in time,back then when things were far less complex,the women of the home busy during the summer months,in the tasks of pickling and preserving…the conversations they would have had out in the field beneath swaying coconut trees,the satisfaction they must’ve derived at being masters of their craft,the pride they felt at running a home,knowing fully well that no man could do these tasks so well and with so much ease…the knowledge of elevating the ‘job’ of a homemaker to an art form! I am proud to have grown up around such strong women and acknowledge the fact that the woman I am today has a lot to do with that kind of powerful examples of womankind…they did more than just make ezhantha vadais !!!
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